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KENTUCKIANS IN HISTORY 
AND LITERATURE 



Kentuckians in History 
and Literature 



By 
JOHN WILSON TOWNSEND 



Autlior of 
Richard Hickman Menefee ' ' 



NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON 

THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

190T 



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SEP 13 I90r 

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CUisA XXc., Mo. 



COPY - 



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copyeight, 1907, by 
The Neale Publishing Company 



To 

H. S. J. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The First Kentucky Novelist . ^ . 11 

Kentuckians in the Halls of Fame . 27 

A Forgotten Singer . . . . 39 

The First Kentucky Historian . . 57 

A Few of Barry^s Letters . . . 69 

The First Kentucky Poet ... 87 

Old King Solomon ..... 103 

The Filson Club Ill 

The Kentucky Historical Society . . 125 

Has Kentucky Produced a Poet ? . . 135 

Chivers 153 

One Word More ..... 171 



PEEFACE 

" Kentucky as she was ; Kentucky as she is ; 
Kentucky as she will be; Kentucky forever." 
These words of Chief-Justice Robertson ex- 
press a sentiment that is dear to me. And 
because of this love for Kentucky, these re- 
searches into her literature and history have 
been made and are now given to the world for 
whatever they may be worth. As nearly all of 
the essays deal with the founders and perfect- 
ers of our history and literature, they must, of 
necessity, overlap. No apology is made for 
this: the sympathetic reader will understand. 
Practically all of the studies have required 
research, effort — the most fascinating, labori- 
ous, and disappointing of literary labor; and 
they have also required Col. R. T. Durrett's 
wonderful library of Kentuckiana. Mr. Madi- 
son Cawein, Louisville, Kentucky; Mr. Mont- 
gomery Blair, Washington, D. C. ; Hon. 
William Nelson, Secretary of the New Jersey 
Historical Society, and Mrs. Jennie C. Mor- 
ton, Secretary of the Kentucky Historical So- 
ciety, have assisted me in making the essays 
reliable, and I have done my best to make 
them readable. 



10 Preface 

One of the essays was published in the St. 
Louis Glohe-Democrat last summer; two have 
appeared in the Kentucky Historical Society's 
publication, The Register; and four of them 
were printed in The Transylvanian, the Ken- 
tucky University paper. These seven essays 
have been greatly revised and augmented, and 
five new ones added, which are now published 
for the first time in " Kentuckians in History 
and Literature.'' 

J. W. T. 

Lexington, Kentucky, May 24, 1907. 



THE FIRST KENTUCKY NOVELIST 



THE FIEST KENTUCKY NOVELIST 

Men are to-day more interested in literary crea- 
tions than they are in literary creators. '' It 
will always be found more just," says an 
American critic of authority, " as well as more 
generous, to judge a man's life by his book 
than to judge his book by his life." Yet it is 
natural that one should desire to know the 
salient facts in the life of an author whose 
work has interested one, even though those 
facts do not throw additional light upon the 
production in hand. With this position 
granted, I shall relate the biography of Ken- 
tucky's first novelist, a life that was utterly 
devoid of virtue, together with a discussion of 
his novel and history. 

Gilbert Imlay, the first Kentucky novelist, 
was born in New Jersey in or about 1755. His 
father was Peter Imlay, a son of Robert Imlay, 
who died in 1750 at Upper Freehold, Mon- 
mouth County, New Jersey. Gilbert Imlay's 
grandmother, Mary Imlay, dying in 1754, re- 
ferred to him in her will. Of Imlay's mother 
not even her name has been saved to history, 
but his brother Robert died in 1822. 

Imlay was captain of a New Jersey com- 

13 



14 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

pany in the Revolutionary War. After its 
termination he probably returned to his home 
to bid his parents farewell, and in 1784 he ar- 
rived in Kentucky. He was appointed " a 
commissioner for laying out lands in the back 
settlements," and worked under George May 
at Louisville. 

A letter in regard to Imlay, from the notori- 
ous Gen. James Wilkinson to Mathew Irvine, 
is preserved in the Emmet Collection of Manu- 
scripts, in the New York Public Library. 

" Carlisle, September 28, 1784. 
"Dear Sir: 

" Your affairs with Mr. Imlay remain in the 
same situation they did when I last wrote you 
— however I expect by my return that Mr. Im- 
lay must have procured unequivocal Titles 
sufficient to take up his Bonds — if he has, the 
Business will be immediately closed, otherwise 
it will remain in its present situation — for 
were I to push or expose Imlay in his present 
critical situation, ruin would come upon him 
and you would lose your property, probably 
forever — depend. Sir, on my fidelity and at- 
tention, and be assured I am Your obliged and 
obedient servant, 

*''' James Wilkinson. 

" Mathew Irvine, Esq.^^ 



The First Kentucky Novelist 15 

During the years 1785, 1786 patents were is- 
sued to Imlay for 24,171 acres of land located 
in Fayette and Jefferson Counties, Kentucky. 
Also, in Jefferson County, in partnership with 
the famous Light Horse Harry Lee, he held 
1200 acres, and with John Holder, 4023 acres. 
Within a few months, however, Wilkinson and 
Lee had either bought or sold all of his Ken- 
tucky holdings, and in 1786 Imlay gave a 
power of attorney for the sale of his lands in 
New Jersey. 

As far as I have been able to ascertain, Gil- 
bert Imlay lived in Kentucky for nearly eight 
years. It is not positively known when he left 
America for Europe, but it was late in 1791 or 
early in 1792; for in 1792 the first edition of 
his " Topographical Description of the West- 
ern Territory of North America '' was pub- 
lished at London. In the following year it was 
reprinted at New York, and also translated 
into German by E. A. W. Zimmerman and 
brought out in Berlin. An enlarged edition, 
containing John Filson's history, Thomas 
Hutchins's " Descriptions," and much addi- 
tional material, was issued in 1795. A second 
enlarged edition appeared two years later. It 
is, after Filson's, Fitzroy's, and Toulmin's, the 
fourth history of Kentucky. 

The " Topographical Description " is all 



16 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

that a monograph on a new country should be. 
The epistolary form was adopted, the book 
containing eleven letters written from Ken- 
tucky to a friend in England. Through his 
friend, Imlay told the world about Kentucky's 
salubrious climate, her rich soil, her customs, 
etc., treating them exhaustively. In the ninth 
letter he crossed swords with Thomas Jeffer- 
son, coming out flat-footed in favor of marriage 
between the white and black races. It will 
take time for the world to accept amalgama- 
tion, but the world will become as enlightened 
on this subject as I am, ultimately. This is 
Imlay's position, stated without his clever 
rhetoric. One ceases, after having read the 
ninth letter of the " Description," to wonder 
that Imlay would deceive a woman. 

In 1793 Imlay laid before the French Direc- 
tory plans for the capturing of New Orleans by 
the French, and the ease with which they could 
enlist men from Kentucky in support of their 
project. Wilkinson had made similar repre- 
sentations to the French Minister in the United 
States in 1792. " His suggestion that the 
French might take possession of all the coun- 
try west of the Alleghanies would seem to 
show that Imlay and Wilkinson were, in a 
measure, the forerunners of Aaron Burr's 
scheme of a dozen years later." 

It was while living in this State that Gilbert 



The First Kentucky Novelist 17 

Imlay wrote the first novel ever written in Ken- 
tucky. He took the manuscript with him to 
London, where it was published in 1793. It 
is entitled '' The Emigrants, or the History of 
an Expatriated Family, being a delineation of 
English manners drawn from real characters. 
Written in America, by G. Imlay, Esq." It is 
the story of a Mr. T — n and his family of one 
son and three daughters. The real heroine 
of ^' The Emigrants " is the most beautiful and 
charming of the daughters, Caroline. Mr. 
T — n was a wealthy London merchant who 
suddenly lost his fortune and was compelled to 
emigrate to America. First settling in Phila- 
delphia, he moved to Pittsburg and thence 
down the Ohio River to Louisville. " The Emi- 
grants " was published in three small volumes 
and bound in marbled calf. The second vol- 
ume may be called the real Kentucky one. 
In it are recounted the experiences of the ex- 
patriated family in this State. When they 
arrived in Louisville they found that Caroline's 
lover. Captain Arl — ton, had gone to Lexing- 
ton, but a letter from his friend, who was man- 
aging his affair with Caroline, brought him 
quickly upon the scene. The emigrants re- 
mained in Kentucky from June until August. 
During the latter month Caroline was cap- 
tured by Indians, but was safely rescued. In 
the third and final volume the family's return 



18 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

to Europe is related, and all ends well. " The 
Emigrants " is most interesting ; more so than 
many of the six best sellers of the present time. 
" In accord with the fictional fashion of its 
day, it bears the epistolary form." 

A comprehensive review of " The Emi- 
grants " appeared in the London Monthly Re- 
view for August, 1793, and is as follows: 

" In a novel written by the intelligent and 
lively author of the topographical description 
of the western territory of America, the public 
will naturally look for something more than a 
sentimental tale; and we can assure our read- 
ers that they will find in these volumes many 
things which are not commonly to be perceived 
in writings of this class. Not that the author 
is incapable of unfolding the tender passion, 
and of expressing its enchanting emotions. He 
frequently pours forth high and almost idola- 
trous encomiums on the fair sex; and he de- 
scribes the rise and progress of life with all the 
ardour of youthful sensibility: — but he com- 
prehends within the plan of his work many 
other objects, which will render it interesting 
to the philosopher, as well as to the lover. 
Several lively descriptions of American scenes, 
both natural and artificial, are introduced. 
The characters of the piece are so distinctly 
marked, and so perfectly consonant to the 



'■ ! '<» M «l * . ■ ■ 1 ^ 



The First Kentucky Novelist 19 

present state of manners, that we can easily 
credit the writer's assertion that the principal 
part of his story is founded on facts, and, in 
every instance, he has had a real character for 
his model. Eeflections frequently occur, in 
the course of the narrative, which discover a 
mind inured to philosophical speculation. On 
the general subject of politics, Mr. Imlay 
expresses himself with the freedom of an 
enlightened philosopher, and advances senti- 
ments which will be generally approved by 
those who are capable of divesting themselves 
of the powerful prejudices arising from self- 
interest : — but the principal design of the work 
appears to be to turn public attention toward 
the present state of society with regard to 
marriage. It is an opinion, which this writer 
seems to think it of great importance to com- 
municate and support, that the female world 
is at present, in consequence of the rigour of 
matrimonial institutions, in a state of oppres- 
sive vassalage; and that it would greatly in- 
crease the happiness of society if divorces 
could be more easily obtained. Several of the 
characters and incidents of these volumes are 
introduced for the purpose of illustrating and 
confirming this observation; and the question, 
in different parts of the work, is expressly dis- 
cussed. 

" After all, however, that Mr. Imlay has ad- 



so Kentuckians in History and Literature 

vanced on the subject, it may, we apprehend, 
be maintained that the inconveniences which 
have flowed from the existing laws respecting 
marriage have proceeded more from depraved 
manners of the age, than from the nature of the 
institutions themselves; and that the perpetu- 
ity and inviolability of the marriage contract 
contribute essentially toward the virtue and 
the general happiness of society, — however un- 
fortunate may be the lot of individuals, many 
instances of which, it is confessed, we have 
known, without being able to afford relief to 
the guiltless sufferers ; and can there be a more 
disagreeable situation for a man of feeling, 
than to witness the distresses which he can not 
alleviate? " 

" The Emigrants " is the rarest of the rare 
Kentucky books. An extensive correspond- 
ence has revealed the fact that there are prob- 
ably but four copies in existence. The British 
Museum, the John Carter Brown Library of 
Brown University, the New York Public Li- 
brary, and the Filson Club all have copies of 
the novel. The New York Public Library 
bought their set on March 10, 1898, for |7.12 
at the sale of the library of Charles Deane, an 
eminent Boston collector of rare Americana; 
and Col. R. T. Durrett picked up his set for 
the Filson Club Library many years ago in 



The First Kentucky Novelist 91 

London. It is the only one in Kentucky at the 
present time. 

In 1793 Gilbert Imlay left London for Paris, 
and during the year " he formed that memor- 
able connection with Mary Wollstonecraft, 
which has gained for her the sympathy of all 
readers of her impassioned letters, and left him 
with the unenviable character of ' the base 
Indian who threw a pearl away richer than 
all his tribe.' Imlay was evidently incon- 
stant, sensual, and unfeeling." But she fell 
in love with him. Slie was the first of the 
modern " new women." Her ideas are held 
to-day by many leaders of thought among 
women, except on the question of marriage. 
Mary Wollstonecraft held mutual affection 
equivalent to marriage. As she loved Imlay, 
she felt justified in taking up her abode with 
him without a legal marriage. There is little 
doubt that she regarded herself as Imlay's 
wife in the sight of God and man. The real 
trouble was, Imlay did not return her affec- 
tion. 

By August, 1793, they were living together 
in Paris as man and wife. In the fall of the 
same year Imlay was called to Havre on busi- 
ness, and later established commercial rela- 
tions there. His wife joined him shortly 
afterward. 

In the spring of 1794 Mrs. Imlay gave birth 



22 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

to a daughter who was named Fanny Imlay. 
She is, " after her mother, the most attractive 
character with whom we meet in the whole 
enormous mass of Godwin's manuscripts.'' As 
she grew up she became a lovable woman, 
and an optimist. But at times she was pes- 
simistic. In October, 1816, it was arranged 
for Fanny to go to Ireland to be with two of 
her aunts. But at Swansea, on October 10, 
she committed suicide. The cause of her rash 
act is unknown. In a note which she left she 
referred to herself as " a being whose birth 
was unfortunate," and added that her friends 
would soon forget " such a creature ever 
existed." She had probably recently heard of 
her origin, become despondent over it, and 
made way with herself. On March 10, 1794, 
Mrs. Imlay wrote a letter from Havre to her 
sister, Everina Wollstonecraft, in which she 
referred to Imlay as " a most worthy man," 
" a most natural, unaffected creature." It is 
quite clear that this " handsome scoundrel " 
had completely pulled the wool over the eyes 
of an otherwise remarkable woman. In Sep- 
tember of the same year Imlay went to Lon- 
don and his wife returned to Paris. The sepa- 
ration served to chill what little affection 
Imlay had for her. He remained in London 
about two months. His business was in a bad 
way by this time, and he decided to engage in 



The First Kentucky Novelist 23 

trade connected with Norway and Sweden. He 
finally permitted his wife and child to join 
him in London, as he thought his Scandi- 
navian trade would bring him a fortune. In 
1795 Mrs. Imlay went to Norway to look after 
Imlay's business. Imlay armed her with a 
document certifying that she was his wife and 
empowering her to act for him. He himself 
went on a trip to another country. 

Mrs. Imlay returned to England in the 
autumn of 1795, only to receive letters from 
Imlay that they were to part. He offered to 
settle an annuity on little Fanny, but she 
neither accepted nor refused anything. She 
left it to his own discretion. Imlay gave a 
bond for a sum to be settled upon their child, 
but it was never paid. Mrs. Imlay's last let- 
ter to Imlay was dated London, December, 
1795. He met her again shortly afterward and 
tried to make her believe he had no other at- 
tachment, but she discovered he was carrying 
on an intrigue with another woman under her 
own roof. They met again, by accident, for 
the last time in April, 1796. Imlay was rid- 
ing upon a horse, and when he saw Mary he 
alighted, " and walked with her for some time.'' 
Separation was now the only course left open 
to them, and they took leave of each other for- 
ever. Later, Mary Wollstonecraft tried to 
commit suicide, but her attempt was frus- 



24 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

trated. She soon regained her equipoise, and 
on March 29, 1797, married William Godwin 
(1756-1836), the English philosopher and 
novelist. Their only child became the wife of 
the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. But in giving 
her child birth the mother forfeited her own 
life. Mary Wollstonecraft's '' Vindications of 
the Rights of Women " gives her a permanent 
place in English letters. 

The late Dr. Richard Garnett, of the British 
Museum, in his sketch of Imlay in the ''Dic- 
tionary of National Biography," concludes 
with these words : " He possibly returned to 
America; the time and place of his death are 
unknown." The distinguished librarian is 
correct in his second statement, but it is my 
opinion that Imlay did not return to Amer- 
ica. As has already been suggested, the last 
glimpse we have of Imlay is in April, 1796. 
If he returned to America, who prepared the 
last edition of the " Topographical Descrip- 
tion," published at London in 1797? This 
final edition contains very large additions, and 
it would seem most likely that Imlay prepared 
it for publication. Mr. William Nelson, the 
New Jersey historian, who has most carefully 
gone through the New York and Philadelphia 
newspapers. The Gentleman s Magazine, and 
Notes and Queries covering the years 1795- 
1830, for notices of Imlay's death or of his re- 



The First Kentucky Novelist 25 

turn to America, and has failed to find either, 
is nearer the truth when he asks : " From the 
utter lack of mention of Gilbert Imlay after 
1796, do you not think it quite possible that he 
died obscurely in London or Paris, or else- 
where on the Continent, shortly after parting 
Avith Mary Wollstonecraft, and that he never 
returned to America at all? " The present 
writer answers, " Yes." 



KENTUCKIANS IN THE HALLS OF 
FAME 



KENTUCKIANS IN THE HALLS OF 
FAME 

For the past few years Kentuckians have been 
at sea as to their representatives for the Na- 
tional Statuary Hall at Washington. The 
question as to the proper representatives has 
been the all-absorbing topic among students of 
the State's history, but as yet no conclusion 
has been reached. 

In the latest Kentucky legislature several 
bills were introduced proposing different dis- 
tinguished Kentuckians for the places in the 
Statuary Hall. The historical societies of the 
State failed to agree on the two men who 
should be chosen. The Filson Club suggested 
the names of Henry Clay and George Rogers 
Clark; the Kentucky State Historical Society 
proposed the names of Abraham Lincoln and 
Jefferson Davis. On account of this conflict, 
and also on account of the large amount of 
business that the legislature had to transact, 
the two Kentuckians were not chosen. The 
next legislature will no doubt select the State's 
representatives for the older of the two Amer- 
ican Valhallas. 

29 



30 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

When the old hall of the House of Kepre- 
sentatives was abandoned by the lower house 
of Congress in 1857 for the new house, the 
question arose as to its final disposition. The 
Senate chamber of the old Congressional build- 
ing was converted into the chamber of the 
United States Supreme Court. But it was not 
until Justin S. Morrill, father of the State Col- 
leges, came forward with a bill that was finally 
passed July 2, 1864, setting the old hall apart 
as the National Statuary Hall, that its future 
use was determined. Morrill's act authorized 
the President to invite the States to provide 
statues in marble or bronze, not exceeding two 
in number from each State, of deceased per- 
sons who have been citizens of the State and 
are illustrious for their historic renown or for 
distinguished or military services, such as each 
State may deem to be worthy of this national 
commemoration. Many of the States have not 
yet taken advantage of this opportunity to 
commemorate forever two of their greatest 
sons in the manner in which they should. 

To-day only fourteen States have sent their 
full quota, as follows: Connecticut, Roger 
Sherman and Jonathan Trumbull; Illinois, 
James Shields and Frances E. Willard ; Massa- 
chusetts, John Winthrop and Samuel Adams; 
Maryland, John Hanson and Charles Carroll; 
Missouri, Thomas H. Benton and Francis P. 



Kentuchians m the Halls of Farne 31 

Blair, Jr.; New Hampshire, John Stark and 
Daniel Webster; New Jersey, Kichard Stock- 
ton and Phil Kearny; New York, Robert R. 
Livingston and George Clinton; Ohio, James 
A. Garfield and William Allen ; Pennsylvania, 
Robert Fulton and John P. G. Muhlenberg; 
Rhode Island, Nathanael Greene and Roger 
Williams; Texas, Sam Houston and Stephen 
F. Austin; Vermont, Jacob Collamer and 
Ethan Allen; West Virginia, John E. Kenna 
and Francis H. Pierpont. Of these twenty- 
eight famous Americans, Kentucky has a good 
claim on two of them: Blair and Austin. 
Francis Preston Blair was born in Lexington, 
Kentucky, February 19, 1821. When he was 
nine years old his father moved to Washington, 
D. C, to assume control of the Congressional 
Globe. Blair graduated from Princeton Uni- 
versity in 1841, and then returned to Kentucky 
to study law under Louis Marshall. He grad- 
uated in the law school of the Transylvania 
University at Lexington, and then moved to 
St. Louis to practice. In September, 1847, 
Blair again returned to Kentucky to claim his 
Kentucky sweetheart as his wife — Miss Apol- 
line Alexander, of Woodford County. On 
September 8 they were married. Blair re- 
turned to Missouri the following year and 
began the practice of law. In 1862 he was 
elected to the Missouri legislature and four 



S2 KentucJcians m History and Literature 

years later to the National House of Repre- 
sentatives. Blair was a distinguished Union 
soldier in the Civil War, but after the war he 
joined the Democratic party. In 1868 he was 
nominated for Vice-President with Governor 
Horatio Seymour for President, but was de- 
feated. He was elected to fill a vacancy in the 
United States Senate and served from Janu- 
ary, 1871, to March, 1873. Shortly afterward 
he was stricken with paralysis and died in St. 
Louis, July 9, 1875. 

Stephen Fuller Austin, the founder of 
Texas, was born in Virginia in 1793, and, ac- 
cording to the Hon. Champ Clark, Missouri's 
noted representative in the National House, 
and a native Kentuckian, " Austin was an 
alumnus of Transylvania University, at which 
famous seat of learning I spent three of the 
happiest, most laborious, and most profitable 
years of a busy life. The two most celebrated 
names on the roster of the students were those 
of Jefferson Davis and Stephen F. Austin. 
Frequently, when I can snatch a moment from 
this strenuous life, my heart fondly travels 
back over mountain, vale, and river to the 
days of my youth about Lexington. 

" Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes, 
And fondly broods with Miser care; 
Time but the impression deeper makes. 
As streams their channels deeper wear." 



Kentuckians in the Halls of Fame 33 

Austin was the uncle of Mrs. Horace Hol- 
ley, wife of the famous Transylvania Univer- 
sity president. After her husband's death she 
moved to Texas to live with her distinguished 
kinsman, and later wrote a " History of 
Texas." Austin went to Texas in 1821 and 
founded the city of Austin. He was a great 
worker for Texas independence, and is rightly 
called " the founder of Texas.'' He was im- 
prisoned for three months in Mexico while on 
one of his missions. Some months before his 
death he traveled through Kentucky, making 
speeches advocating the independence of his 
adopted State. Austin died in Columbia, 
Texas, December 27, 1836. He is one of 
Texas's greatest sons, and his memory is 
honored throughout the State. 

Five other States have sent one statue of 
a gifted son to Statuary Hall : Indiana, Oliver 
P. Morton; Kansas, John J. Ingalls; Maine, 
William King; Michigan, Lewis Cass; Wis- 
consin, Pere Marquette. Kentucky has no 
claim upon these men. Besides Kentucky, 
there are twenty-five other States that have 
not sent representatives to Statuary Hall. 
Nearly all of them, it will be noticed, are 
Southern States: Alabama, Arkansas, Califor- 
nia, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, 
Idaho, Washington, Iowa, Louisiana, Missis- 
sippi, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wyoming, South 



34} Kentuckians m History and Literature 

and North Carolina, North and South Dakota, 
Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia. Ore- 
gon will probably choose as one of her repre- 
sentatives Edward D. Baker, the famous 
orator, and Virginia will probably choose as 
her representatives Washington and Jefferson. 
Some surprise was caused when New York 
failed to choose Alexander Hamilton, and when 
Ohio chose William Allen instead of U. S. 
Grant. But the greatest surprise of all came 
from Illinois choosing Frances E. Willard in 
place of Abraham Lincoln. Thus Illinois has 
left Lincoln to Indiana and Kentucky, but 
neither of these States has seen fit to put him 
in National Statuary Hall. 

The other Hall of Fame, situated upon the 
grounds of the New York University, is very 
different from the Washington Hall of Fame. 
Panels instead of statues are used in New 
York, although statues and pictures have been 
used. Representatives are not chosen by the 
State legislature, but by one hundred compe- 
tent citizens who are students of history. Elec- 
tors of the New York Hall of Fame are univer- 
sity presidents, professors of history, editors, 
authors, and chief justices. The Kentucky 
elector is the Chief Justice of the Court of 
Appeals. One hundred and fifty panels have 
been provided in this hall of fame for great 
Americans. Fifty of these panels were to have 



Kentuckians in the Halls of Fmrte S5 

been inscribed when the first election was held 
in 1900, but the number of votes required is 
fifty-one out of a possible one hundred, and 
only twenty -nine famous Americans received a 
sujOacient number of votes to permit of their 
names being inscribed in the Hall of Fame. 
If fifty names had been chosen in 1900, the 
rules state that five additional panels should 
be inscribed at the close of every five years. 
Thus, at the election held in October, 1905, 
twenty-six representatives should have been 
chosen, but only five were chosen. Of the 
twenty-nine names chosen in 1900, only three 
of them were Kentuckians : Henry Clay, Abra- 
ham Lincoln, and John J. Audubon. It is a 
well-known fact that Clay is synonymous with 
Kentucky, and that Lincoln first saw the light 
on February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Ken- 
tucky. It is possibly not so well known that 
the greatest American ornithologist spent 
many years of his life in Louisville and Hen- 
derson, Kentucky — years in which he made 
preparation for his great work. 

Washington received more votes than any 
other American, ninety-seven; Lincoln was 
second, with Webster, receiving ninety -six; 
and then came Franklin, Grant, Marshall, Jef- 
ferson, Emerson, Fulton, Longfellow, Irving, 
Edwards, Morse, Farragut, Clay, seventy-four; 
Peabody, Hawthorne, Cooper, Whitney, Lee, 



36 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

Mann, Audubon, sixty-seven; Kent, Beecher, 
Story, Adams, Channing, Stuart, and the bo- 
tanist, Asa Gray. 

Several Kentuckians received votes for 
places in the Hall of Fame, as follows : Daniel 
Boone, thirty-five; George Kogers Clark, nine- 
teen ; Albert Sidney Johnston, twelve ; Zachary 
Taylor, born in Virginia, but brought to Ken- 
tucky at nine months of age, and continued to 
be a resident of the State until his twenty- 
fifth year, received nine votes: Dr. Ephraim 
McDowell, the father of ovariotomy, five ; John 
J. Crittenden and Martin John Spalding, the 
great Roman Catholic, received one vote each. 

At the election in October, 1905, the names 
of five famous Americans were inscribed in the 
Hall of Fame — John Quincy Adams, James 
Russell Lowell, William T. Sherman, James 
Madison, and John Greenleaf Whittier. In 
the Hall of Fame for men of foreign birth 
the names of Alexander Hamilton, Louis Agas- 
siz, and John Paul Jones were inscribed. In 
the Hall of Fame for women three names were 
cut into the stone — Mary Lyon, Emma Wil- 
lard, and Maria Mitchell. Upon none of these 
persons has Kentucky a claim. However, sev- 
eral of the State's sons received heavy votes. 
Boone and Clark each received one vote more 
than they did in 1900, giving them thirty-six 
and twenty votes, respectively. Johnston's 



Kentuckians m the Halls of Fame S7 

vote fell from twelve to nine, Taylor's from 
nine to two, McDowell's from five to one, while 
Crittenden and Spalding were not nominated. 
This simply means that Kentucky will be rep- 
resented by the three names already inscribed 
in the New York Hall of Fame : Lincoln, Clay, 
and Audubon. As these three names are for- 
ever immortal in American history, and as it 
is an utter impossibility to get some of our 
men, greater perhaps than the above three, be- 
fore the Northern judges who constitute a 
majority of the electors, when the legislature 
finally does choose Kentucky's representatives 
for the National Statuary Hall, why not choose 
men of State rather than of National reputa- 
tion? This is what the States that have chosen 
their representatives have done. At any rate, 
the Statuary Hall is separately for the States 
and, taken as a whole, for the Union. 

Henry Clay has probably received more 
homage than has been accorded by any one 
State to any one son, and it is not only fit- 
ting but eminently just that some Kentuckian, 
other than he, should be one of the State's 
representatives. It may be a good idea to 
advise the outside world that Clay is not the 
only remarkable man Kentucky has produced. 

Lincoln lived twice as long in Indiana as he 
did in Kentucky, although born in the latter 
State. The first American would make an ex- 



38 Kentuchians in History and Literature 

cellent companion for Indiana's War-Gover- 
nor. Then let Mississippi send Jefferson 
Davis; but Kentucky should send statues of 
McDowell, Buchanan, O'Hara, Johnston, 
Clark, or Menef ee : men who have not received 
just recognition hitherto. 



A FORGOTTEN SINGER 



A FORGOTTEN SINGER 

About seventy-five Kentuckians have pub- 
lished poems; and half of this number have 
been women. Amelia B. Welby's " Rainbow " 
is probably the best poem that any of Ken- 
tucky's daughters has written. After her 
masterpiece one would name Sarah B. Piatt's 
" A Word With a Skylark," which John Bur- 
roughs thought good enough for his " Songs 
of Nature " ; and Annie Chambers Ketchum's 
" Semper Fidelis." But these three names are 
to be found in any anthology of American 
poetry, while the woman whose poetry I desire 
to call attention to is practically forgotten. 
Her work is known only to the special student 
of Kentucky literature. The poems that are 
here printed will show, I think, that Mary E. 
Betts was no " maudlin poetess," and that her 
place is just below the three women named 
above. Mrs. Betts also gained her reputation 
as writer of verse without the assistance of 
George D. Prentice and his powerful Louis- 
ville Journal: Mrs. Welby, Mrs. Piatt, and 
Mrs. Ketchum are primarily the Prentice 
poets. 

Mary Eliza Wilson, daughter of Isaiah and 

41 



4S Kentuckians in History and Literature 

Hannah Wilson, was bom in Maysville, Ken- 
tucky, January, 1824. She was educated at 
the Maysville schools. On July 10, 1854, Miss 
Wilson married Morgan L. Betts, editor of 
The Detroit Times. She died in Maysville on 
September 19, 1854, of congestion of the brain. 
Her death was believed to be caused by the 
great gunpowder explosion of August 13, 1854, 
when nearly thirty thousand pounds of gun- 
powder, near Maysville, was fired by incen- 
diaries, causing a loss of $50,000. Many 
buildings, including eight churches, were de- 
molished, and the explosion was heard for 
miles around. A large reward was offered 
for the perpetrators, but without success. 
Mrs. Betts's husband died in the following 
October. Throughout her mature life she was 
a contributor of poetry to the newspapers and 
magazines of the country. 

For the sketch of Mrs. Betts and the follow- 
ing poems I am indebted to Mr. Basil D. 
Strode, a great-nephew of the poetess. With 
the exception of the tribute to Crittenden, 
these poems are now published for the first 
time in book form. 

Mrs. Betts was probably the best woman 
writer of love lyrics that Kentucky has pro- 
duced. The two poems given below are good 
examples of her work in this field. 



A Forgotten Singer 



A DREAM OF BEAUTY 

Fm gazing on a lovely star, that floats in yonder 

blue. 
Its soft sweet light as down it comes, breathes gently 

now of yon; 
It tells me that thy heart's deep fount, so bright 

in by-gone years, 
Is floating softly now as then, with Love's sweet 

dewy tears — ■ 
That e'en the brightest one that gives each crystal 

wan of light, 
Is smiling lonely for me now in all its beanty bright. 

And tho' thou art afar this night, beyond the South- 
ern sea, 

Yet, yet, I feel thy holiest dreams are breathing now 
for me; 

E'en the soft, voluptuous light, that sleeps on 
Italia's vales. 

Or perfumes sweet that ever load the evening's sleepy 
gales — 

Can never lead thy thoughts astray, or chill the 
love that springs 

Gently in thy heart for me, like summer's murmur- 
ings. 

I know when thou art wand'ring, 'neath the soft 

Sicilian sky. 
Or hear amid her sunny groves the bulbul's plaintive 

sigh— 
Thou wilt turn to other days, and o'er thy spirit lone, 
The music aweet will linger low, that sleeps within 

mine own — 



44< Kentuchians m History and Literature 

And er'ry wreath of jo}^ and love, that crowned thy 
sunny way, 

Wilt live and breathe as beautiful as flow'rs in sum- 
mer day. 

Then I will envy not again, the blue, o'er-arching 
sky, 

Or murmur at the zephyr light, as soft it wan- 
ders by; 

No, no! aitho' they linger oft, with beauty on thy 
heart, 

And to its low, sweet singing founts, a lioly light 
imparts — 

Yet, they have never made thee false, or chilled thy 
deep, deep love, 

'Tis now as bright and beautiful as angel smiles 
above. 

And when upon my spirit floats a fair and holy 

dream. 
Like the gentle light that lingers soft, on some bright 

starry beam — 
Then I will turn to thee and bless thee for thy 

love and truth, 
That gleamed so bright upon thy brow in May-day's 

sunny youth; 
And my fond heart will bring its gems of beauty 

to thy shrine, 
And link it with the holy light that dwells so pure 

in thine. 

Of the second poem, The Detroit Times, in 
which it was published, said : " No heart that 
has a single spark of love in it will read this 
poem without admiring it." 



A Forgotten Singer 46 



TO T. D. W., OF DETEOIT, MICHIGAN 

I have heard the low voice of the murmuring deep, 

Where the white-crested billows unceasingly leap, 

x^nd the spirit that nestles adown in the shell, 

Its low music whispers to the night breezes tell — • 

But they breathed o'er my soul no lovelier balm, 

They left not the signet of holier calm, 

Than the low song that floats up sweet from thy 

Lyre, 
All filled with the light of Parnassian fire! 

I've breathed the soft airs of the far sunny South, 
Where Beauty is bright and as glowing as youth. 
Where the humming-bird sips from crimson-lipped 

rose. 
As the Day-god sings to his golden repose — 
Where love's fairy fingers the orange buds twine. 
To wreathe for its idol the loveliest shrine — 
But they touched not my lip with a holier smile. 
Than the song thou hast bro't from the Poet's 

sunny Isle. 

I've bathed my sad brow in the soft, rippling wave, 
Where the coral grove made the seaman a grave. 
And the sorrowing sea gull on lightly poised wing. 
Hushes low his wild song, as the mermaidens sing: 
Where the muskplant is sending round its perfume. 
Where the pomegranate opes its radiant bloom — 
But my heart did not flutter as wildly, as when 
Floated soft o'er my deep soul thy heavenly strain. 



46 KentucJcians in History and Literature 

I know that thy life is one beantful spring, 

And hope, with the glory of its rainbow wing, 

Encircles thy spirit's deep fountains of light, 

And filling its temple of beauty so bright, 

That mem'ry will only bring to its bowers 

The portrait fair of the loveliest flowers — 

And o'er thee no sorrow ever will gloom 

To rob thy young heart of its beauty and bloom. 

I know that thy cheek wears a bright sunny beam, 

Thine eye like the night-star, with wild fires gleam. 

And where love's sweet waters enchantingly flow, 

There, there, thy soft spirit has drunk till the glow 

Of beauty encircles its wings with a light. 

Lovely as gleams o'er the amber-beds bright. 

Where the purple-winged bird makes its soft downy 

nest, 
And sings 'mid the bright flowers its young heart 

to rest. 

I know that thy spirit is soft as mine own, 

And the green earth hath music's beautiful tone 

To glad thy young heart! the flowers still gleam 

Lovely beside their own wild mountain stream. 

And the stars are as bright on the midnight sky. 

The zephyr as soft as he once wandered by, 

When our childhood's years wore, nor shadow, nor 

shade. 
And we thought light in the heart never could fade. 

Oh! I know that the sky looks down on thee now, 
With its sweet eyes of blue, its bright starry brow, 
And softly to thee, the green whispering leaves 
Breathe their low murmurs to the light passing 

breeze — • 
And thy soul is bright with the beauty that springs 
Far up from the earth on the light's golden wings. 



A Forgotten Smger 47 

Oh, life for thee now hath lost its grief and its gloom, 
And crowned itself with sweet May-day's beauteous 
bloom. 

In the manner of George D. Prentice's 
" Closing Year/' Mrs. Betts wrote " The Death 
of the Year.'' 

Another year hath gone — imprinted on 

His brow the chronicles of sorrows, tears, 

Hopes and joys, and fame and wealth and power. 

Like another Tyrant glutted with the 

Tears of thousands, and thrnsted down from his 

Blood-cemented throne, he sank low upon 

A dim and fevered couch. 

I looked upon 
The pale wan stars, as they meekly trembled 
Far in the upper deep, and they wept their 
Dewy tears, and slowly gave to earth a 
Few sad beams, like lamps that hang above the 
Couch of death. The silver moon, that seemed with 
Her cold face, anxious to shrink away 
Behind each loitering cloud — the unclad 
Forest trees — the stream of earth, that once danced 
Along its merry way and softly flowed 
With its loving gaze turned upon the far 
Deep heavens, as if it looked to see on 
Ev'ry star an angePs smile of joy — sent 
Up a wailing, mournful sound — a low, sad 
Eequiem for the past. 

Does l^ature 'lone 
Weep o'er the dim, cold bier, the Tyrant Time 
Hath made? -Or are there those who sadly grieve 
As they gaze upon the blue heavens at 



48 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

Night, and watch the soft, sweet beams of some new- 
Fonnd star, that chronicles in each bright smile 
A tale of stricken love, and hope, and joy? 
Who look around them morn and eve, and miss 
The fairy form, the sun-light glance, the smiles 
Of love, and kindly words that breathed in tones 
Or thrilling sweetness? 

Ah, yes ! many weep 
Above the graves of the young, the brave, the 
Beautiful half-opened blossoms, that withered 
All too soon beneath the tread of 
Iron-footed Time ! and days of joy — days 
Of hope and love, whose beautiful visions 
Floated o'er the swelling breast, and made earth 
Grow fair beneath the magic of their smiles. 
Darkened and fled away. 

But e'en amid 
The desert-wastes Old Time hath made, some bright 
Spots are left us still — sweet oases for the 
Wearied wanderer, where cooling draughts 
Are found, and fruits the best are ripened. Old 
Time with downy feet hath passed o'er many 
A scene, and left the young heart light and free. 
And crowned the young brow with coronets bright 
Of fairest flowers ! The path of many 
A sage-sire is twined with the glorious 
Wreaths of fame, and cheered by the smiles of the 
Brave and free. 

Far-famed America, thou 
Art bright'ning — thou Oasis of earth's gloomy 
Deserts, where the exile comes, and comes not 
In vain ! Home and friends are found, and waters 
Sweet from many a fount sparkle o'er his 



A Forgotten Singer 49 

Path, and fruits delicious of other climes — 
The growth of sun-bright Tropics — ripen to 
Fill his board ; and ^neath the genial rays 
Of our glorious sun, he forgets the 
Past. 

Dark oppression finds no cowering 
Votaries here. Freedom, with her silver 
Wings, circles our broad dominions in the bright 
Halo of glory. Minions bound to the 
Glittering car of tyranny have seen 
America's Eagle perched high, and heard 
His chant of freedom, and their hearts became 
Fired, and with one mighty bound burst their chains. 
That Eagle's eye is gazing o'er the deep — ev'ry 
Port is seen, each bright wing outspreads afar, 
No storm darkens o'er its onward_ flight, or 
Lessens now its strength. Bright prosperity 
Follow^s upon his stainless track, and Peace 
Comes like an Angel fair, and guides him on. 
And o'er the distant world afar is seen 
The magic of their Love and Glory; and 
Many a proud heart is leaping now, and 
Longs to tread their sunny way. 

Besides the poems already given, and the 
ones that are to follow, I have three of Mrs. 
Betts's longer poems in my possession; but 
as this book must be kept within certain limits, 
I am compelled to withhold them. The ad- 
verse criticism against Mrs. Betts's poems has 
been that they are too long. She failed to 
follow Edgar Poe's dictum literally, but when 
she did her poetry was much better. 



50 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

" We are enabled," said The Louisville 
Times, over a half century ago, " to give to our 
readers a beautiful poem from the pen of one 
who has, from the commencement of The Times, 
afforded its readers a communion with bright 
thoughts, clad in the loveliest hues of poesy. 
Among all our correspondents there are none 
whom we greet with more cordiality, and 
whose muse affords us more gratification. 
There is an originality in her conceptions, and 
a harmony in her numbers, that assure us of 
the favors she wears from the sacred Vine." 

Mrs. Betts's tribute to Italy reminds one of 
Kobert Browning's lines in " De Gustibus " : 



" Italy, my Italy ! " 
Queen Mary's saying serves for me 
(When fortune's malice 
Lost her Calais) : 
" Open my heart, and you will see 
Graved inside of it, ^ Italy.' " 

Browning and Queen Mary never loved the 
blue skies of sunny Italy better than this for- 
gotten Kentucky poet. " Corinne de Italia " 
is Mrs. Betts's best poem. 

" Bel a Italia ! amate sponde ! 
Par u 'torno a riveder; 
Trema in petto, e si confonde, 
L'alma oppressa dal placer." 



A Forgotten Singer 51 

Sweet Italy ! I go from thee — 

Go where my childhood^s home 
Is bright'ning in its beauty wild, 

Beyond the blue sea's foam; 
But I go with a bleeding heart. 

My life's sweet dream is o'er. 

My harp is hushed, and I can dream 

Of beauty now no more! 
Once, once I thought the buds that bloomed 

Sweet in my early spring, 
Would ever blossom beautiful 

And 'round me fragrance fling; 
But, no! a cankering blight is cast. 

O'er the radiance of earth. 
And gone from my heart and hails the tone, 

Of revelry and mirth. 

Can I forgive the spirit dark. 

That crushed my heart's sweet flow'rs, 
That came a wily serpent 'mid 

My own fair, sunny bow'rs. 
And dimmed the last, sweet ling 'ring beam, 

That danced upon my way, 
And left their cloudy footprints deep. 

Of Sorrow and Decay? 
No, no ! its dark remembrance lives 

Within my bosom lone. 
'Twill mingle there its dusky hues, 

Where light once only shone. 

But I forget, sweet Italy, 

My broken harp's last strain 
Doth now essay to pour o'er thee 

Its music sweet again. 



52 Kentuckians in History/ and Literature 

And I will turn to thee, to thee, 

Sweet land of song and flowers. 
Of myrtle groves and orange bloom, 

Where smile the rosy hours; 
And in the low soft tones that breathe. 

From the bulbuFs plaintive sigh. 
The music of thy golden waves. 

And light of thy deep blue sky — 
I will forget the bitter cup 

Of grief I\e drained so deep, 
I'll cease to pine o'er faded hopes, 

And o'er them sadly weep. 

Oh, when the music of thy tongue 

Stirs with soft thrills my soul. 
And its breath of song sweeps o'er my heart 

Its spell of sweet control. 
Then dreams, bright dreams, are mine again. 

I live in Eden's bowers, 
I quaff the perfume sweet that breathes 

From soft pomegranate flowers; 
I lave my brow in crystal founts. 

Whose waters ever gleam 
All cloudless and beautiful. 

Beneath the sun's broad beam ! 
Again I breathe thy Poet's song, 

Again I list his Lyre, 
Until mine own is softly filled 

With pure Parnassian fire; 
And oh, I feel my brow is bright 

With the spirit-light of yore. 
When deep I drank in other days 

Thy rich and varied lore. 

And o'er thy classic ground I rove. 
Where many a noble Fane 



A Forgotten Si/nger 53 

Lies with its columned altars 'neath 

Dark ruin's mouldering stain; 
And in thy picture halls I stray, 
Near sunny glade and bower, 
Where near beside a gleaming fount 

I plucked the orange flower; 
And once again the Tiber's wave 

Gleams golden in the light, 
And seems to me as once it seemed, 

All beautiful and bright! 
The orange and the lemon groves 

Fling 'round their grey festoons. 
And breathe sweet odors o'er the waves. 

From out their snowy blooms; 
And oh, the morning breezes bear 

Sweet song upon their wings, 
And tell a tale of other days — 

Of all their wonderings— 
And I am Corinne once again. 

My soul is flung o'er thee, 
With all its holy dreams of love. 

My own sweet Italy. 

But, fare thee well! and should the light 

That gleams upon thy sky, 
Ne'er smile upon my fading cheek. 

Or in my fireless eye. 
Yet, I will turn to thee, to thee. 

Thou fair immortal shore, 
I'll bless thee with thine own sweet words, 

Till life's dark dream is o'er; 
And like the music tone that dwells 

Forever in the deep. 
My spirit lone and sad, its watch 

Of love will o'er thee keep. 



54 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

As has already been stated, none of the above 
poems has ever been published in book form. 
Mrs. Betts's most popular poem, " A Ken- 
tuckian Kneels to None but God," has been 
between pasteboards three times : in " Collins's 
History of Kentucky," 1882, it is given, with 
a short biographical sketch of the author, in a 
chapter entitled " The Poets and Poetry of 
Kentucky " ; in 1892 Mrs. Fannie Porter 
Dickey used it in her " Blades O' Bluegrass " ; 
and in 1906 Anderson C. Quisenberry printed 
it in his book entitled " Lopez's Expedition to 
Cuba, 1850-1851," as he could find nothing 
more germane to his subject than Mrs. Betts's 
tribute to his hero. The poem was provoked 
by the cruel treatment that Colonel William 
Logan Crittenden received at the hands of the 
Cuban authorities in the filbustering expedi- 
tions under Lopez. Colonel Crittenden was 
the brother of former Governor Thomas T. 
Crittenden, of Missouri, and a nephew of Hon. 
John J. Crittenden, Kentucky's distinguished 
Senator. On August 16, 1851, Colonel Crit- 
tenden, with fifty others, was shot to death by 
the Cubans. He, as the leader of the party, 
was shot first. He refused to kneel, and then 
uttered an expression that has gone around the 
world, " A Kentuckian kneels to none except 
his God, and always dies facing his enemy ! " 
He was then shot and his brains beaten out. 



A Forgotten Singer 55 

When, in her far-away Kentucky home, Mrs. 
Betts learned of Crittenden's fate, she wrote 
her tribute to the gallant Kentuckian, which 
was first published in the Maysville Flag. The 
editor of The Flag introduced the poem with 
these words : " The lines which follow are 
from one of Kentucky's most gifted daughters 
of song. Upon gentler themes the tones of 
her lyre have oft been heard to breathe their 
music. To sing to the warrior, its cords have 
ne'er been strung till now; the tragic death, 
and last and eloquent words of the gallant 
Crittenden, have caused this tribute to his 
memory " : 



Ah ! tyrants forge your chains at will — 

I^ay ! gall this flesh of mine : 
Yet, thought is free, unfettered still, 

And will not yield to thine ! 
Take, take the life that Heaven gave. 

And let my heart's blood stain thy sod. 
But know ye not Kentucky's brave 

Will kneel to none but God ! 



You've quenched fair freedom's sunny light. 

Her music tones have stilled. 
And with a deep and darkened blight. 

The trusting heart has filled! 
Then do you think that I will kneel 

Where such as you have trod? 
Nay ! point your cold and threatening steel — 

I'll kneel to none but God. 



56 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

As summer breezes lightly rest 

Upon a quiet river, 
And gentl}^ on its sleeping breast 

The moonbeams softly quiver — 
Sweet thoughts of home light up my brow 

When goaded with the rod; 
Yet, these cannot unman me now — 

ril kneel to none but God. 

And tho' a sad and mournful tone 

Is coldly sweeping by; 
And dreams of bliss forever flown 

Have dimmed with tears mine eye — 
Yet, mine's a heart unyielding still — 

Heap on my breast the clod; 
My soaring spirit scorns thy will — 

ni kneel to none but God. 

Mrs. Betts's poem was republished several 
times in American newspapers during the 
Spanish-American War in 1898. The reprint- 
ing of it revived her fame to a considerable 
degree. Although not the best poem of this 
forgotten Kentucky singer, it is the most popu- 
lar one, and upon it her fame will rest. 



THE FIRST KENTUCKY HISTORIAN 



THE FIRST KENTUCKY HISTORIAN 

History has failed definitely to decide which 
State shall have the only genuine claim upon 
a great son : the State of his nativity or of his 
adoption. This question especially presents 
itself to the State historian. The result has 
hitherto been that both States claim him as 
their own. And who can deny either of them 
the justness of their claim? 

Kentucky history affords numerous ex- 
amples of the above stated question. The 
great example is, of course, Henry Clay, born 
in Virginia, but a son of Kentucky by adop- 
tion. A more modest illustration is John 
Filson, born in Pennsylvania, but whose Ken- 
tucky life gives him his place in American 
history. 

John Filson, companion of pioneers, school- 
teacher, surveyor, biographer, historian, was 
born in East Fallowfield, Chester County, 
Pennsylvania — when? The date has been ap- 
proximately fixed by Filson's authoritative 
biographer as 1747. He was given his grand- 
father's Christian name, and was the second 
son of Davison Filson, a prosperous Pennsyl- 
vania farmer. Filson passed his boyhood 

59 



60 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

working on his father's farm and attending 
the common school of his native town. When 
he became a youth he was sent to the acad- 
emy of the Reverend Samuel Finley, situated 
at Nottingham, Maryland. Years afterward 
Finley was elected fifth president of Princeton 
University. Finley's Academy was a good 
one for the times, and at it Filson studied the 
classics, modern languages, and mathematics. 
He afterward used his knowledge of the hu- 
manities when he coined the word " Losanti- 
ville," the original name of Cincinnati, Ohio; 
and his knowledge of mathematics when he 
assisted in laying off the streets of the Queen 
City. 

John Filson did not serve in the Revolution- 
ary War, and, after it was over, at the age of 
thirty-six years, unmarried, he left his Penn- 
sylvania home for the beautiful country called 
Kentucky, meaning the " meadowland," not 
the "dark and bloody ground," as tradition 
has it. 

Filson arrived in Lexington, Kentucky, late 
in 1782 or early in the year 1783. He spent 
his first year in the " Athens of the West," 
teaching school, and collecting data for his 
history of Kentucky. Tradition says that he 
could ask more questions and answer fewer 
than any man of his day — a rather good qual- 
ity for a biographer to possess. From Daniel 



The First Kentuchy Historian 61 

Boone, James Harrod, Levi Todd, Christopher 
Greenup, William Kennedy, and John Cowan, 
Filson obtained most of his information. Only 
one year was required for him to get his little 
book ready for publication, and as there were 
no printing presses in the West in those days, 
he was compelled to take his manuscript East. 
At Wilmington, Delaware, in the year 1784, 
James Adams brought out Filson's " Dis- 
covery, Settlement, and Present State of Ken- 
tucke,'' while his map of Kentucky, showing 
the three original counties of the State — Jef- 
ferson, Fayette, and Lincoln — was printed in 
Philadelphia. The map is the first one ever 
drawn of the State, and is the only picture that 
we have of Kentucky as it looked nearly a cen- 
tury and a quarter ago. Filson dedicated the 
map to Congress and to General George Wash- 
ington. 

The first history of Kentucky contained one 
hundred and eighteen pages and was divided 
into two parts : the first part, " Discovery, 
Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke " ; 
the second, called the " Appendix," containing 
a biography of Daniel Boone. The sketch of 
Boone was dictated to Filson by the " Old 
Druid of the West," and is, therefore, practi- 
cally Boone's autobiography. But Boone 
could have eradicated a tribe of Indians with 
more rapidity and less labor than he could 



62 Kentuchians vn History and Literature 

have put the story of his life on paper. For 
this reason Filson is essentially Boone's first 
biographer, and also the first Kentucky biog- 
rapher. His life of Boone began with Boone's 
entrance into the " beautiful level of Ken- 
tucky," June 7, 1769, and traced his life up to 
1784 — the year Filson's book was published. 
In a masterly manner Filson depicted Boone's 
first view of Kentucky, and it is by far the 
best piece of composition to be found in the 
work. A comparison of the style in which Fil- 
son wrote an account of the first view of Ken- 
tucky, given in the main body of his work, and 
the style in which Boone related the first view, 
is very interesting. Filson, when writing in 
the first person, used a quiet and dignified 
style; but when Boone relates his adventures 
to Filson, the style is very stilted and pedantic. 
The opening paragraphs of Filson's narra- 
tive, which tell of the adventures in Kentucky, 
condensed, are in substance as follows : James 
MacBride first saw Kentucky in 1754. Then 
it remained concealed until 1767, when John 
Finley visited it. Finley traded with the 
fndians for a while, until he got into a dispute 
with them and " was obliged to decamp." Back 
in his North Carolina home he told Col. Daniel 
Boone of the beautiful country, and in 1769 
Boone, Finley, and several others started back 
for Kentucky. " After a long, fatiguing 



The First Kentucky Historian 63 

march, over a mountainous wilderness, in a 
westward direction, they (Boone and his com- 
panions) at length arrived upon its borders; 
and from the top of an eminence, with joy and 
wonder descried the beautiful landscape of 
Kentucky." Filson then goes on to tell of 
Boone's and Finley's adventures, and then of 
the explorations of Dr. Thomas Walker, of 
Virginia, and of Kichard Henderson, of North 
Carolina. 

Here is Boone's account of the discovery of 
Kentucky : " It was on the first of May, in the 
year 1769, that I resigned my domestic happi- 
ness for a time, and left my family and peace- 
ful habitation on the Yadkin River, in North 
Carolina, to wander through the wilderness 
of America, in quest of the country of Ken- 
tucky, in company with John Finley, John 
Stewart, Joseph Holder, James Monay, and 
William Cool. We proceeded successfully, 
and after a long and fatiguing journey, 
through a mountainous wilderness, in a west- 
ward direction, on the seventh day of June 
following, we found ourselves on Red River, 
where John Finley had formerly been trading 
with the Indians; and, from the top of an 
eminence ( Pilot Knob ) , saw with pleasure the 
beautiful level of Kentucky." Boone then 
proceeds to tell of his hardships in the wilder- 
ness of Kentucky; his troubles with the In- 



64 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

dians, and the beauties of nature which 
surrounded him on every hand. He remained 
in the wilderness until 1771, when he returned 
to his North Carolina home. 

Boone remained two years in the valley of 
the Yadkin before starting back to Kentucky. 
As has been suggested, Filson does not record 
anything about Boone's parentage, birth, 
early years, or marriage: he begins with his 
first explorations in Kentucky and follows 
his life up to the year his book was published. 
Nevertheless, all of the old pioneer's biogra- 
phers — Bryan, Flint, Peck, Bogart, Hartley, 
Abbott, and Thwaite — have had Filson's little 
life as their most valuable bibliography. 

Looking at the history as a whole, one can 
easily see that it lacks proportion, the first 
part containing forty-eight pages and the sec- 
ond part seventy pages, and that Filson's 
picture of domestic life is inadequate. Yet, 
his book is an early Western classic, and is 
to-day pointed to with pride by all loyal sons 
of Kentucky. 

One year after the Wilmington edition was 
published, it was translated into French, and 
published at Paris by M. Parraud. The 
French edition is more numerous at the present 
time than the Wilmington edition. In 1793 
Gilbert Imlay, the first Kentucky novelist, in- 
corporated Filson's entire book into his 



The First Kentucky Historian 65 

" Topographical Description of the Western 
Country," and Samuel L. Metcalf used the life 
of Boone in his " Narratives of Indian War- 
fare," published at Lexington, Kentucky, in 
1821, but he failed to state that it was written 
by Filson. Everything was done to steal the 
little history from its real author by reprint- 
ers, but fortunately they all failed. 

After the publication of his history, John 
Filson left the State of his nativity to become 
a citizen of the State whose history he had 
written. He left Pennsylvania early in the 
spring of 1785, traveling in a two-horse wagon 
as far as Pittsburg, where he abandoned it for 
a Kentucky flat-boat, bound for the Falls of 
the Ohio — Louisville, Kentucky. Filson had 
as traveling companions a young lawyer, John 
Rice Jones, and Jones's family, and after ar- 
riving in Louisville Filson was compelled to 
bring suit against Jones for his part of the 
expense of the trip; but he lost the suit, as 
Jones had nothing but " a gentleman cow " — 
as Mrs. Jones described her husband's steer. 

During the summer of 1785 Filson made 
several trips into the Illinois country, probably 
with the intention of writing a history of Illi- 
nois, to be a companion volume to his " Ken- 
tucky.'' In the fall of the same year he sold 
his Pennsylvania farm, and in December made 
a journey to Yincennes, Indiana. The year 



66 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

1786 found Filson at Post St. Vincent, Illinois, 
engaged in business and in collecting data for 
his history of the country. He never pub- 
lished his writings on Illinois, however, and 
the manuscripts, four in number, are now in 
the possession of the Wisconsin Historical 
Society, Madison, Wisconsin. 

Filson lived in Illinois for about six months 
and then returned to the Falls of the Ohio, 
but left in September for his home in Pennsyl- 
vania, eight hundred miles distant, traveling 
on horseback. Christmas, 1786, and John Fil- 
son was once more on his native heath, sur- 
rounded by his kinsfolk and acquaintances of 
his earlier years. He also made his will at 
this time, leaving his property to his " dear 
brother Robert Filson and his heirs forever." 
After having lived the strenuous life for so 
long, the quiet life on the banks of the beauti- 
ful Brandywine was not to be endured by this 
day-dreamer of the last quarter of the eight- 
eenth century. The year 1787 found him once 
again in Kentucky, engaged in litigation in 
the courts at Danville, Stanford, and Harrods- 
burg. He was himself sued by John Brown, 
first United States Senator from Kentucky, 
for a debt amounting to sixty-one dollars, 
which Filson had borrowed from him some 
years before. 

In the following year Filson wrote an article 



The First Kentucky Historian 67 

for the Kentucky Gazette, which had been re- 
cently established by John Bradford, suggest- 
ing that a seminary of learning, in which 
French was to be taught, should be established 
in Lexington. His article was answered over 
the signature of "Agricola," and was so sar- 
castic that Filson decided to let the matter 
drop. 

In June, 1788, Filson bade a fond farewell 
to Louisville in some crude, lovelorn verses, 
and left for Lexington, where he entered into a 
scheme of great magnitude with Eobert Pat- 
terson, the founder of Lexington, and Mathias 
Denman, to lay off the town of Losantiville, 
now Cincinnati. The eight hundred acres 
that were to constitute the future city were 
divided equally between the three men, and 
Filson left Lexington for Losantiville, where 
he laid off several of the streets. Then, one 
day, he disappeared into the Miami Woods, 
and was never seen again. Historians have 
conjectured as to the manner of his death, but 
as was written about the first Hebrew prophet, 
one may write about the first Kentucky his- 
torian — " No man knoweth of his sepulchre 
unto this day." 

Filson is remembered in the poetry of two 
American poets, — W. D. Gallagher and W. H. 
Venable, — but the Filson Club, of Louisville, 
Kentucky, has succeeded in rescuing Filson 



68 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

and his work from oblivion, and in giving him 
his rightful place in Kentucky history. The 
Club's first publication was the " Life and 
Writings of John Filson/' by E. T. Durrett. 
We may safely say no Kentucky biography is 
more charming or more accurate than Dur- 
rett's Filson. 

Kentucky has had nineteen historians since 
John Filson, but, prejudice aside, we must 
acquiesce with Colonel Durrett's opinion, ex- 
pressed in " The Centenary of Kentucky " : 
" When we take into consideration the little 
history the new State had to be written in 
1784, and allow for the superior deserts of his 
map of Kentucky and his life of Boone, we 
must candidly say that the merits of his his- 
tory have not been surpassed by those of any 
since written." 



A FEW OF BAKKY'S LETTERS 



A FEW OF BAKRY'S LETTERS 

Six letters of William Taylor Barry to Fran- 
cis Preston Blair, Sr., will be prefaced with a 
short sketch of Barry. Born in Lunenburg, 
Virginia, February 15, 1785, he was brought 
to Kentucky when quite young, but returned 
to Virginia to attend William and Mary Col- 
lege, from which he graduated in 1807. 
Shortly after graduating, Barry returned to 
Kentucky and began the practice of law at 
Lexington. He was a trustee of Transylvania 
University, and that famous institution of 
learning conferred upon him the degree of 
Doctor of Laws. In 1810 Barry was elected 
to the National House of Representatives 
and served one term. He was an aide to 
Governor Isaac Shelby in the war of 1812, and 
was at the battle of the Thames. He was 
United States Senator from Kentucky, 1814- 
1816. Barry resigned his senatorship and 
became an associate judge of the Kentucky 
Supreme Court; he was later elected chief- 
justice. Five successive sessions Barry was 
elected speaker of the Kentucky House, and 
elected Lieutenant-Governor with John Adair 
in 1820. He was Secretary of State under 

71 



72 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

Governor Joseph Desha, Adair's successor in 
the gubernatorial chair. 

Early in 1828 he announced himself as a 
candidate for Governor of Kentucky on the 
Democratic ticket. The letters given in this 
essay were written by Barry to Francis P. 
Blair, Sr. (1791-1876), who was editor of the 
Frankfort Argus. From Lexington, under 
date of March 30, 1825, Barry showed his 
hatred of John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay, 
and his admiration for Andrew Jackson, and 
made suggestions as to the best way in which 
to carry the State for the Democratic party. 

" My Dear Sir : 

" I have rec'd yours of the 28th, Inst. I have 
ever thought that we are laying too much 
stres on the Bargain, and looseing sight of 
more important points. Buckhanan's speech 
is to my mind, this & Elves', suit the occasion 
best of all that I have read. The violation of 
public will, the alarming doctrine of Safe pre- 
cedent, the dangers of cabinet succession, the 
aristocratic principle of J. Q. A., his apos- 
tacy, hypocracy &c His conduct in the office 
he fills his plunder of the public treasury &c 
The uniform republican principles of Gen'l 
J. his patriotism & devotion to the country, 
his great services & superior mind, the slan- 
ders heaped upon him, the attacks on Mrs. J. 



A Few of Barry's Letters 73 

are all topics that should be discussed. They 
take well with the people. The people are 
anxious where I have been to hear discussion. 
I addressed a numerous assembly at Spring- 
field as I stated in my last. A public speaker 
can only excite & awaken, documents ought to 
be placed in the hands of the people to read. 
Unless the Central Committee act, promptly, 
constantly & efficiently we will be beat. Our 
enimies are vigilant. The Central Committee 
ought not only to arouse themselves, but they 
should address the corresponding Committees 
in each County & awaken them. All the Com- 
mitties should be as active as those of Safety 
were in the Revolution. We have as much at 
stake as the friends of Freedom then had. 
Communicate documents &c by private hand 
as much as possible, send messengers if neces- 
sary. The Post Offices in the General are filled 
with administration men, and we may expect 
foul play. A constant correspondence should 
be kept up between the Committees. If a com- 
mittee in one County resolve on a publication, 
make it known to others, who would subscribe 
for numbers of the same; this is still more im- 
portant when the Central Committee intend 
to publish. Every means should be employed, 
that can to unite and concentrate our power. 
A man from Boon, Grant & Pendleton coun- 
ties, tells me that the country there is flooded 



74 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

with Hammonds paper, Truths Advocate, & 
Clay's address, & that they will do mischief 
unless counteracted. As to funds they might 
easily be raised upon the plan you suggest. I 
have named it to friends here, in Woodford & 
Jessamine, so often that my pride revolts at 
farther importunity, least I may be regarded 
as supplicating as a favour to myself, that 
which altho' beneficial to me, is still more im- 
portant to the public cause, & which but for 
the extraordinary station I am placed in, 
would neither be wanted nor asked for. How 
different do the other party act, the meanest 
& basest of men when in their employ, want 
not for means. I feel mortified in the reflec- 
tion that grows out of the contrast. You & a 
few other valued friends stand, ready to act 
& do all in your power. But men of wealth 
hold off, they prize money above liberty. You 
need not write to Maj'r Chambers, he has been 
repeatedly written to on the subject but as 
yet is silent. I cannot advise what you should 
do with the Jackson address, it is not well to 
quarrel with R-n; Pope will be able to con- 
trol him. But you ought to write a Pamphlet 
against Adams & circulate it, let him be as- 
sailed at all points & the contest marked dis- 
tinctly between him and Jackson. This is my 
course & I shall not be driven from it. If 
Clay comes out as you surmise & throws him- 



A Few of Barry^s Letters 75 

self into the contest, unless we act impru- 
dently, we shall profit by it. Whilst Secretary 
of State he cannot go about much. The nation 
has already lost millions by his inattention to 
official duties, the people are loud on this sub- 
ject, it ought & will probably admonish him to 
be cautious. Indeed I am not certain if his 
presence will not as it did last summer stimu- 
late the Jackson men, who are now supine 
from too great confidence. 

" Your friend 

"W. T. Barry 
" F. P. Blair, Esq'r., Frankfort." 

Barry made a thorough canvass of Ken- 
tucky, and as he would stop at the most im- 
portant towns, he would write to Blair in- 
forming him of his progress and the reception 
he was receiving. From the county seat of 
the county in which Abraham Lincoln was 
born, Barry wrote this letter: 

" HoDGiNSViLLE 9th May 1828 
" Dear Sir : 

" I was at Elizabeth on Monday, at Bran- 
denburgh Wednesday, here today Battallion 
muster, tomorrow at another Battallion about 
10 miles distant, at Hart Monday next &c. So 
far prospects are flattering. My stay here is 
necessary & has been profitable. Ben : Hardin 



76 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

was at Elizabeth, but mounted his horse & 
went off just as I commenced speaking. John 
L. Helm, seemed uneasy but made no reply. 
He is whispering little stories to injure me. 
The fact that an execution for |8.87/100 in 
favour of Elijah W. Craig for costs against 
me, being returned " no property found." This 
little matter is in every County where I have 
been. How it has been managed I cannot tell. 
But it is the effect of management. When in- 
formed of it at Frankfort I called at the office 
got a statement of the amount of the execu- 
tion, transmitted the amount to James O. Har- 
rison, he called on Craig to pay it. Craig said 
he did not know that I owed him, that he had 
not ordered the execution, knew nothing of 
it, and was reluctant to receive the amount. 
He did so, and Harrison enclosed his receit to 
me, with the information I give you, at Louis- 
ville. I hope to hear from the Sheriff on the 
subject when I arrive at Salem. It is said I 
owe small mechanics bills & wont pay them. 
It is untrue. At present I recollect of no bill 
that I owe, I am sure if any small demand 
should exist, that I can pay it when presented. 
As to some large responsibilities, that I am 
involved in I cannot now meet them, but shall 
be able to do so in due time. My property is 
mortgaged, to the Bank & my securities who 
stand responsible at Bank for me, not covered 



A Few of Barry^s Letters 77 

for purposes of fraud. It is open to execu- 
tion. The equity of redemption may be sold 
at any moment. Aware of this, I have rented 
out my house, hired out my slaves, devoting 
the proceeds to meet my engagements, my fam- 
ily are at lodgeings of the plainest kind. This 
is the splendid style of my living. Look at 
Clay, his mortgages, his responsibilities, his 
almost regal splendour, and yet he is magnus 
Appollo of my calumniators. The Focus [?] 
his in all it says about my speech amongst 
other matters S. M. Brown said in substance 
^ that Clay had told me before his departure 
for Washington that he intended to vote for 
Adams, & accused me of treachery &c ' I re- 
plied & denied the statement as made by him, 
refused to be interrogated, & insisted that my 
silence should authorise no inference favour- 
able or unfavourable to Mr Clay. What else 
could I do? Silence would have confermed his 
statement, to have detailed what I knew, would 
have made me a voluntary witness, and ex- 
posed me to the enemies batteries. If the un- 
certainty of my response, leaves a sting, let Mr 
Clay place it to the account of the agent his 
friends choose to set upon me. In self defence 
I'll strike Mr. Clay or any other man. 

" Darby answered me at Brandenburgh. 
Strange to ,tell, he treated me with curtesy, 
said I should receive in his county the hospi- 



78 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

tality of a stranger. What is Beck, Critten- 
d[en?] & Brown, Thrown behind P. H. Darby? 
But he [illegible] like a fiend on Gen'l & 
Mrs Jackson. 

" Present me to my friends. Letters will 
find me at Salem as I go down & at Eussells- 
ville as I come up. 

" Your friend, 

" W. T. Barry. 

" F. P. Blair Esq'r Frankfort Ky." 

The election was held on August 4, 1828, and 
Thomas Metcalf defeated Barry by 709 votes. 
Barry tells his friend the causes of defeat, and 
makes a correct prophecy in regard to Jack- 
son's carrying Kentucky in the November 
election. 

"Lexington 11th August 1828 
" (Confidential) 
" My Dear Sir : 

" I have received yours of the 10th, we are 
probably beaten in the election for Governor. 
The causes are obvious. Many neiv Court Clay 
men opposed me, old Court men opposed me. 
The friends of the occupants opposed me. The 
lawyers, Judges iS: whole official corps opposed 
me. Monied men on account of my embar- 
ressments opposed me. The Cabinet with all 
its powers through the Premier opposed me. 
All this might have been met & overcome, but 



A Few of Barry^s Letters 79 

for the indolence, selfishness, & treachery of 
friends, against this no human foresight can 
guard. I was literally sacrificed in this 
County, at least two hundred Jackson men 
did not come to the poles, last year the Jack- 
son candidates rec'd upwards of 1300 votes, 
this year only 1100 & upwards. Other Jack- 
son men nearly 100 in number were prevailed 
on to vote against me, at the instance of Clay 
& his Sattleites because as they urged I was a 
disorganizer. Old Capt. Fowler deserted me 
left home & did not vote. Clay had called to 
see him. Jn'o H. Morton & his brother Charles 
did not vote. Jn'o W. Hunt did not vote, 
CoPo Harry C. Payne did not vote, & John 
Allen a member of the Jackson convention 
voted for Metcalf, James B. January voted for 
Metcalf, so did Clifton & Asa Thomas who 
have stood by me before from my boyhood up. 
The Sheriffs altho some of them were my 
friends made no active exertion for me. They 
are making money and a poor man is not so 
important to them. In most of the Counties 
with many honourable exceptions, the County 
candidates shifted for themselves, and I had 
to stand alone, not embodying the strength of 
Jackson & with my own diminished for the 
causes stated. I have stood at Thermopylae, 
if I fall it will not dispirit, I glory in it, the 
highest post of my life, is that which carried 



80 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

me through the ordeal of the late election. 
The Country will be saved at Plateae where 
Jackson commands in person. I look to Nov'r 
with confidence. Form your plans at once, let 
Pope take the place of Chapman, S. Smith of 
Munday, on the electional ticket let the elec- 
tors, take to themselves certain Counties, and 
go to work instantly. We think of a great 
Barbacue in this vicinity free to all the friends 
of Jackson to which the able men shall be in- 
vited from all parts of the State, & from which 
meeting an address shall issue suited to the 
occasion, animating our friends & urging them 
to the poles in Nov'r. What do you think of 
this, the time «& place it should be at? 

" It is true I have & shall still suffer in pecu- 
niary matters. Creditors harrass me. I am 
almost literally encamped in a boarding house 
with my family, because of the unspareing pur- 
suit of my creditors. Be it so, I am calm, shall 
stand fast at this point until after Nov, then 
move as instinct dictates, but find existing ties 
to keep me here, but I hate to yeald so fair a 
portion of our land to the enemy. Shew this 
to tried friends & assure them, that I com- 
menced a Militia man, I am now a veteran in 
the cause. 

" Your friend, 

"W. T. Barry. 

" F. P. Blair Esq'r. Frankfort Ky." 



A Few of Barry's Letters 81 

On March 9, 1829, President Jackson ap- 
pointed Barry Postmaster-General of the 
United States. He was preceded in this office 
by a Kentuckian, John M. McLean, and suc- 
ceeded by one, Amos Kendall. While the of- 
fice of Postmaster-General was created at the 
beginning of our National Government, Wil- 
liam T. Barry was the first incumbent to be 
raised to a regular Cabinet position, on equal 
terms with the Secretaries. From Washing- 
ton, on May 13, 1830, Barry sent a short letter 
to Blair: 

" Washington 13 May 1830 
" Dear Sir 

" I send you by todays mail the Speech of 
Mr Livingston in Pamphlet form. It is in my 
opinion a sound exposition of the Constitution 
& one of the ablest delivered in the recent dis- 
cussion in the Senate of Mr Foots Resolutions. 
Mr Livingston shewed me a letter he has rec d 
from Mr Madison, to whom he sent one of his 
Speeches, in which Mr Madison expresses his 
concurence in the views of Mr Livingston, and 
of course his disapprabation of the nullifying 
doctrine of S. Carolina. I do not know that 
this letter is designed for publication, but no 
injunction of secrecy, is imposed, & I name it 
to you that our friends in Ky, may be ap- 
prized of Mr Madison's sentiments. The doc- 
trine of S. Carolina would lead to all the evils 



82 Kentuchians m History and Literature 

of the Confederation, that of Mr Webster, to 
the dangers of consolidation. I send you also 
Walsh's paper in Avhich you will find a Speech 
of C. J. Ingersooll Esqr, (reformed by Gen'l 
Jackson) that proves how strong, the Presi- 
dent is in the affections & esteem of the people. 
The President never was in better health, may 
God preserve him for many years, and you & 
yours 

" Very truly 

" W. T. Barry 
" F. P. Blair Esqr. Frankfort Kentucky." 

Blair received a confidential letter from 
Barry, June 8, 1830. The Postmaster-General 
was very frank in his opinions of men and 
things : 

"Washington 8 June 1830 
" My Dear Sir : — 

" I enclose you a power of Atty agreeably to 
your suggestion, and will write to day to Gen'l 
Taylor & Maj'r Carneal, to give their assent 
to the removal of the notes, so as to give me 
the benefit of time, to meet the amount by con- 
venient installments. Do my dear fellow at- 
tend to this matter for me. You say I ought 
not to have left you in suspense about the Pres- 
ident's veto, I had yet a faint hope when I 
wrote you that a different course would be 
taken, & thought it best to suggest it as prob- 



A Few of Barry's Letters 83 

ible event. Kendall informs me that he has 
written to you about matters & things, he can 
find time to write to his friends, having passed 
the ordeal. You have before this read the 
President's communication. It is an era in 
the political history of our country. The move- 
ment is bold, but it was necessary to save the 
Union, and prevent the accumulation of a Na- 
tional debt. Virginia & the entire South will 
stand by him, so will new York & the Democ- 
racy of New England. You will soon hear 
from the Legislature of New Hampshire on 
the subject. Pennsylvania will adhere to the 
President, both that State & New York, have 
made their own improvements, and are largely 
in debt for them, they have not & do not look 
to Gen'l gov't for aid. Great National im- 
provements will be acceptable to these great 
States, such the President will sanction. The 
Louisville & Portland Canal, will be sustained. 
On this question the Cabinet were equally di- 
vided, but a few moments were allowed for 
consideration, and the President, as his Coun- 
cil were divided, through respect has taken 
time to consider. Another matter operated to 
induce this course, you will see in the Light 
House Bill an appropriation of $300 for sur- 
veying the falls on the Indiana side with a 
view to ascertain if the navigation of the river 
can be improved in that way. If this can be 



84 Kentuchians in History and Literature 

done, which object is most worthy of the pat- 
ronage of the Federal government? I find 
that our friends at Louisville, Warden Pope 
&c are in favour of rechartering the Bank of 
the U. States, here again we are split. If 
Jackson lives we shall conquer, if he dies all 
I fear is lost. Calhoun, it is thought from Mc- 
Duffies movements is to be the Bank Candi- 
date from the South, but Clay will be ahead 
of him. The Great Magician is anti-Bank. 
McLean is any thing or nothing. You see I 
w^rite freely, as it is all in confidence. Lough- 
borough & his lady have arrived in good health, 
but their little one not so well, its indisposi- 
tion delayed them on the road. Present me 
kindly to your family & believe me truly 

" Yours 

" W. T. Barry. 
" F. P. Blair Esq. Frankfort Kentucky." 

One of the last letters that Barry wrote to 
Blair, before the Kentucky journalist accepted 
the invitation of President Jackson to come to 
Washington and establish the Congressional 
GJohe, was a short one, written June 19, 1830, 
from Washington. Again Barry stated, as he 
had done in nearly all of the letters given here, 
his great admiration for his chief, Andrew 
Jackson : 



A Few of Barry^s Letters 86 

" Dear Blair 

" I send you a paper, that you are not prob- 
ably in the habit of receiving. It shews the 
temper of the times in S. C. The Hotspurs of 
the South, if Adams had been elected Presi- 
dent, would have set up for themselves. We 
live at a time when I verily believe Gen'l Jack- 
son alone as President could save us from the 
borrows of civil War. His Veto will calm the 
disturbed ocean of public opinion, the people 
will reflect & all will be safe. 

" yours truly 

" W. T. Barry 

" F. P. Blair Esqr Frankfort Ky." 

F. P. Blair, Sr., left Frankfort, Kentucky, 
and arrived in Washington City between the 
2d of November and the 12th of December, 
1830. He founded the Congressional Globe 
(1830), and edited it for the next fifteen years. 
At Washington, in 1848, his life of Gen. Wm. 
O. Butler, the Kentucky soldier-poet, was pub- 
lished. Gen. Lew Wallace, in his recently pub- 
lished autobiography, puts Butler's " Boat- 
man's Horn" down as one of his favorite 
poems. This life of Butler has always been 
attributed to Blair's son, F. P. Blair, Jr., but 
a copy found by his grandson in the Library 
of Congress revealed the real authorship. 



86 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

Blair took a prominent part in the war be- 
tween the States. 

Because of continued ill-health, William T. 
Barry resigned his Cabinet position in 1835, 
and accepted the Ambassadorship to Spain. 
Death overtook him on the way, however, and 
he died in Liverpool, August 30, 1835. The 
Kentucky legislature had Barry's remains 
brought back to Kentucky, and, with the dust 
of Charles Scott, the fifth Kentucky Governor, 
they were reinterred in the State Cemetery 
at Frankfort, November 8, 1854. Theodore 
O'Hara delivered the funeral oration upon 
Barry, and it was the best oration ever deliv- 
ered by Kentucky's great poet. It may truth- 
fully be said, Kentucky has produced no other 
man who held as many high offices, in a life 
of fifty years, as did William Taylor Barry. 



THE FIKST KENTUCKY POET 



THE FIRST KENTUCKY POET 

John Filson^ the historian; Gilbert Imlay, 
the novelist; and Thomas Johnson, the poet, 
are first in the three great departments of 
Kentucky literature in point of time only, and 
not according to the rank or quality of their 
productions. Their three little books are of 
interest because the first books in the literature 
of a people are always interesting. As in be- 
ginning the study of English literature we 
start with Caedmon, Cynewulf, and Bede, or 
in American literature with Martyr, Brown, 
and Bradstreet, so in beginning the study 
of Kentucky literature we start with Filson, 
Imlay, and Johnson, before we study Collins, 
Allen, or O'Hara. 

The founders of Kentucky literature were 
not native Kentuckians. Filson was a Penn- 
sylvanian, Imlay was born in New Jersey, and 
Johnson first saw the light in Virginia. Ken- 
tucky did not have a permanent settlement 
until 1774, and as these three men published 
their books before 1800, it would have been 
unusual for a person to be born in Kentucky 
and write a book before the nineteenth cen- 
tury. 



90 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

Thomas Johnson, the son of Thomas John- 
son, was born in Virginia about 1760. The 
exact date of his birth, like Filson's and Im- 
lay's, is unknown. They were all born about 
the middle of the eighteenth century. Nothing 
is known of Johnson's genealogy or posterity, 
although it is certain that he emigrated to Ken- 
tucky from Virginia when he was twenty-five 
years of age. The Kentucky Gazette for Feb- 
ruary 9, 1793, notified Johnson there was a 
letter for him in the Danville post-oflfice. So 
we know that he was living in Kentucky at 
least three years before his poems were pub- 
lished. 

Looking over the Kentucky towns, Johnson 
selected Danville, then in Mercer County, as 
his future home. Danville was founded by 
Walker Daniel in 1781, and when Johnson 
reached there it had a population of one hun- 
dred souls. Ten years later Danville became 
the first capital of Kentucky, and the very year 
that Johnson became a citizen of the little 
settlement the famous Political Club was or- 
ganized. He undoubtedly knew the leading 
spirits in this Club, who were also the 
moulders of public opinion in the early years 
of the infant Commonwealth : Harry Innes, 
George Muter, Christopher Greenup, Samuel 
McDowell, John Brown, and many others of 
equal prominence. 



The First Kentucky Poet 91 

Thomas Speed, in his history of " The Politi- 
cal Club," prints a letter written to the young 
man who was secretary of the Club, warning 
him against the gaiety of Danville. " How do 
you like the life you lead in Danville? Are 
you not drawn into excesses? Keep no bad 
hours or company. You deserve the char- 
acter you have of a prudent man for your 
years, yet I fear the levity of that place may 
lead you astray." Capt. Speed comments : " It 
is difficult to think of Danville possessing the 
allurements of a city as early as 1786." We 
can thus see environment had a great deal to 
do with Johnson's moral downfall; and what 
it failed to do, heredity doubtless did. He- 
redity and environment earned for him the 
sobriquet — " the Drunken Poet of Danville " 
— which was given years afterward to another 
Danville poet, William Marvin. 

Although a drunken ne'er-do-weel, Johnson 
wrote some good satirical verses. These 
verses he collected and published at Lexington, 
Kentucky, in 1796, in a small duodecimo pam- 
phlet under the title of " The Kentucky Mis- 
cellany." This was the first book of poems 
published in Kentucky. Filson and Imlay 
had written their books in Kentucky, but had 
published them elsewhere ; and, although Adam 
Eankin's ^ " A Process in the Transylvania 
Presbytery" (1793) was the first book pub- 



92 Kentuchians m History and Literature 

lished in Kentucky, Johnson has the honor of 
publishing the first book that can be called 
literature in any sense that was issued in this 
State. On January 16, 1796, and also in the 
two succeeding issues. The Gazette announced 
that they had Johnson's poems for sale at nine 
pence per copy — about eighteen cents. Some 
of the pieces were written probably a decade 
before they were published, and the epigram 
on '' John " was written in 1776. 

A second edition of " The Kentucky Miscel- 
lany '' appeared in 1815, and a third edition 
a few years later, but not a single copy of the 
first three editions is extant. At Lexington, 
in 1821, the fourth and last edition of John- 
son's poems was printed at the Advertiser 
office. The only extant copy was for many 
years in the possession of Kev. L. W. Seely, 
a Baptist minister of Frankfort, Kentucky. At 
his death the precious little volume fell into 
the hands of his son. Dr. E. S. Seely, a Midway 
physician. Nine years ago Dr. Seely died, and 
as he left no heirs his father's old library, with 
the treasured little " Johnson," was sold. The 
one man in Kentucky who would value such a 
book is K. T. Durrett, and at the Seely sale he 
bought " The Kentucky Miscellany " for a 
mere song, and it now occupies an honored 
place in the most complete library of Ken- 
tucky books ever gotten together. 



The First Kentucky Poet 9S 

The book contains only thirty-six pages, is 
mouse-eaten at one corner, and parts of the 
best verses are destroyed. The following ex- 
tracts are reproduced here, not because they 
are comparable to the " Corn Law Rimes " of 
Ebenezer Elliott, but because they are pro- 
ductions of the first Kentucky poet, and should 
be preserved in a more substantial form than 
in a paper-backed, dog-eared pamphlet. Ex- 
cerpts only can be given, not simply because 
the verses are badly mutilated, but also be- 
cause they are obscene. To prove that John- 
son lived in an age of vulgarity and coarseness, 
one has only to turn to the files of the early 
Kentucky newspapers and peruse the jokes 
to be found there. Johnson had some educa- 
tion, as his verses testify, with a sprinkling of 
satiric genius. Like Burns, he was never able 
to bury John Barleycorn alive. One day, 
while drunk, he stumbled into the famous old 
Danville Tavern, kept by Erasmus Gill. Din- 
ner was over and he found nothing but the 
crumbs. After looking at the table some mo- 
ments he offered his famous " Extempore 
Grace " : 

! Thou who blest the loaves and fishes 
Look down upon these empty dishes; 
And that same power that did them fill, 
Bless each of us, but d old Gill. 



94 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

To William Gill, whom Johnson supposed 
to be dead, he presented these lines: 

Here lies the corpse of Bill}^ Gill, 
Whom cruel Crow in rage did kill. 
Beneath this stone he safely lies, 
No orphans mourn, no widow cries; 
His happy children, happy wife. 
Freed from oppression, freed from strife, 
Join in the shout, proclaim the joy, 
He^s gone who did our peace destroy. 

The two following poems show Johnson's 
opinion of the town and State of his adoption : 

Accursed Danville, vile, detested spot. 
Where knaves inhabit, and where fools resort — 
Thy roguish cunning, and thy deep design, 
Would shame a Bluebeard or an Algerine. 
may thy fatal day be ever curst, 
When by blind error led, I entered first. 



I hate Kentucky, curse the place, 

And all her vile and miscreant race ! 

Who make religion's sacred tie 

A mask thro' which they cheat and lie. 

Proteus could not change his shape, 

Nor Jupiter commit a rape, 

With half the ease those villains can 

Send prayers to God and cheat their man ! 

I hate ail Judges here of late. 

And every Lawyer in the State. 

Each quack that is called Physician, 

And all blockheads in Commission — 



The First Kentucky Poet 95 

Worse than the Baptist roaring rant, 
I hate the Presbyterian cant — 
Their Parsons, Elders, nay the whole, 
And wish them gone with all my soul. 

The Mercer County, Kentucky, election for 
the year 1787 elicited the following verses: 

From low and abject themes my groviling muse 
Now upward soars, and loftier subjects chuse; 
Piercer's grand election here display. 
And sing the glories of that pompous day. 
McDowell, Jouett, Taylor, take their place 
With panting breast, each anxious for the race; 
Soon Jouett mounts his Pegasus on high. 
And Taylor's ragged ruffians rush him high; 
In sullen gloom, M'Dowell moves along, 
Nor hopes for suffrage from the blackguard throng. 
All vote for Taylor, Taylor ev'ry soul; 
And Mercer pours her filth on Taylor's poll. 

During Johnson's day a meeting of the 
county lieutenants was held in Danville, in 
order to regulate the militia. The village poet 
invoked from Jupiter these lines: 

When Greece with Troy waged war, 
Jove mounted his imperial car. 
Descended straight (so Homer says) 
On Ida's top in all his blaze; 
From whence he could both hosts survey. 
And whence he thunder'd "part the fray." 
I prayv dear Jove, once more come down, 
And take a view of Danville town; 



96 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

See our great CoFnels here below. 
Debating what they^ll never know, 
But lest some mischief may befall, 
Bring thunder, Jove, and scatter all ; 
Disperse the tyrants far away. 
And we in duty bound will pray. 

Near Danville a certain William Hudson 
murdered his wife, and the crime moved John- 
son's epigrammatic muse to say: 

Strange things of Orpheus poets tell. 
How for a wife he went to Hell ; 
Hudson, a wise man no doubt, 
Would go to Hell to be without. 

Probably the kindest of the eight epitaphs 
given in " The Kentucky Miscellany " is one 
the author wrote for a dog: 

Here lies the corpse of little Cue, 
Whose heart was honest, good and true. 
Why not preserve her memory then. 
Who never yet, like faithless men, 
Concealed in smiles a mortal spite, 
Nor fawned on them she meant to bite? 

Johnson fell deeply in love with a young 
woman to whom he addresses two poems given 
in his book. Miss Polly Armstead was the 
real or poetical name of the woman. Before 
telling her of his love, he thought it better to 
first break the news to Dr. John Reid. 



The First Kentucky Poet 97 

Did Hippo sore my mind perplex, 
Or aches and pains my body vex; 
I for the Doctor then would send, 
And hope relief from such a friend. 
But love's the pain that I endure, 
The sole disease you cannot cure; 
I love, but am not loVd again, 
curse of curses, cruel pain! 
'Tis this deprives my soul of rest. 
And fills with care my troubled breast. 

Then to Miss Polly herself Johnson tunes 
his lyre: 

To sing of Polly, lovely maid, 
Eequires no fabled muse's aid; 
Her charms can inspiration give. 
And make her poets numbers live. 
Venus, thy throne of beauty yield ; 
Nor love dispute with her the field; 
Thou ne'er had won the golden prize. 
Had Paris viewed my Polly's eyes. 
In vain the Goddess would compare, 
With her for feature, shape and air; 
In Pallas' self, alas! we find 
But a weak emblem of her mind. 
Observe the diamond's lucid blaze. 
Darting forth its sparkling rays; 
These shining charms could never vie 
With charming Polly's brighter eye. 
The crow who mounts on pinion high, 
And seems to pierce the azure sky, 
His sable plume, however rare. 
Is white, compared with Polly's hair. 



98 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

The second poem shows that Miss Armstead 
was quite indifferent to Johnson's affection, 
and the concluding lines are a lover's lament 
over wasted love: 

But kind heaven forbid that she should know 
Pains like mine, or feel snch scenes of woe; 
Whatever my fate may be. may bliss be thine, 
And still be gnarded by the powers Divine. 

Johnson told the truth about himself in the 
opening lines of one of his longer poems: 

Hail Danville ! Hail ! where Johnson shines, 
The hero of his blackguard rhymes ! 
Whose limber pen and polite brains, 
Turns epic into dog'rel strains. 

A man in Johnson's neighborhood, known 
as John, had become largely indebted to Dan- 
ville merchants and then left the town. John- 
son consoled the sufferers with the following: 

John ran so long and ran so fast, 
No wonder he ran out at last; 
He ran into debt, and then to pay, 
He distancM all and ran away. 

David Rice, the founder of the Presby- 
terian Church in Kentucky, had bought land 
on the faith of his congregation paying for 
it. The payment was deferred until the sheriff 
was ready to cast Rice into prison. While he 
was under the sheriff's eye, communion day 
came around. Rice refused to administer the 



The First Kentucky Poet 99 

sacrament on the ground that it was not right 
to admit persons to the holy table who refused 
to pay their debts. Naturally a sensation was 
created, and Rice's action became Johnson's 
song. He wrote the following satire and 
nailed it to the church door : " On Parson Rice, 
Who Refused To Perform Divine Service Till 
His Arrears Were Paid." 

Ye fools ! I told you once or twice, 
You'd hear no more from canting E — e; 
He cannot settle Ms affairs, 
Nor pay attention unto prayers, 
Unless you pay up your arrears. 
Oh, how in pulpit he would storm. 
And fill all hell with dire alarm! 
Vengeance pronounced against each vice, 
And, more than all, curs'd avarice; 
Preach'd money was the root of ill; 
Consigned each rich man unto hell; 
But since he finds you will not pay, 
Both rich and poor may go that way. 
'Tis no more than I expected — 
The meeting-house is now neglected: 
All trades are subject to this chance, 
No longer pipe, no longer dance. 

By far the best poem, and in fact the only 
verses that Johnson ever wrote that can be 
said to contain real poetry, is his " Panegyric 
on Doctor Fields." Only an extract is extant: 

Oh, could I reach the true sublime; 
With 'energy of thought in rime, 
My verse should far inscribe thy name. 
In standing monuments of fame; 



100 Kentuchians m History and Literature 

Long as my life its course should run, 
Till all the fatal thread be spun; 
Each morning early as I rise, 
Each evening ere I close my eyes: 
When I adore the Unseen Above, 
In whom I live and whom I love, 
And pay the reverential praise 
For all the blessings of my days, — 
In that memorial first shall stand 
His mercy by thy saving hand; 
'Bove all the joy that fortune yields, 
I bless my God for Doctor Fields. 

This poem plainly shows Johnson's love for 
God and God's good man. He himself con- 
fessed that he was nothing but a rimester, for 
he hated cant and hypocrisy. 

Colonel William Christian was one of the 
many Virginia soldiers of the Revolution who 
settled in Kentucky after the war. He was a 
member of the Virginia legislature for a short 
time. In April, 1786, he was engaged in a 
bloody conflict with Indians, and was killed 
by them. Christian County, Kentucky, was 
named in his honor. When the news of his 
death reached Danville our poet wrote the 
following epitaph for the soldier: 

To great and noble things a transient date 

And sudden downfall is decreed by fate! 

Witness the man who here in silence lies, 

Whom monarchs might have viewed with envious eyes. 



The First Kentucky Poet 101 

Knowing that the first Kentucky historian 
and the first Kentucky novelist sleep in un- 
known graves, I went to Danville to ascertain 
the last resting-place of the first Kentucky 
poet. With the assistance of several members 
of the Scribbler Club, I searched through the 
old Presbyterian graveyard for Johnson's 
grave, but failed to find it. An examination 
of the files of the Kentucky Gazette and Ken- 
tucky Reporter, from 1796 to 1825, showed no 
reference to the date of his death. It may be 
approximately fixed as occurring during the 
first quarter of the last century. 

Johnson wrote his own epitaph, and if the 
Danville people of his day erected a little tomb- 
stone to his memory, this epitaph was prob- 
ably inscribed upon it: 

Underneath this marble tomb, 
In endless shades lies drunken Tom; 
Here safely moored, dead as a log. 
Who got his death by drinking grog. 
By whisky grog he lost his breath — 
Who would not die so sweet a death? 

Surely, the student of Kentucky letters will 
say, it is a far cry from the crude verses of 
Thomas Johnson to the exquisite lyrics of 
Madison Cawein. 



OLD KING SOLOMON 



[ 



OLD KIXG SOLOMON 

Old King Solomon is the unique unieitT of 
Kentucky history. Only one other Kentuck- 
ian, Thomas Johnson, the State's first poet, is 
comparable to him in regard to uniqueness of 
character. They are both the hero-drunkards 
of our history. King Solomon, sobering up in 
time to become the hero of the most dreadful 
year that has eyer swept down upon the blue- 
gi*ass region ; Thomas Johnson, sobering up in 
time to write the first book of poems that was 
published in Kentucky, are companion spirits 
and deserye an honored place in the history of 
the Commonwealth. 

William Solomon, to giye him his real name, 
was born in that part of Virginia known as 
the " Slashes," two years before the birth of 
Henry Clay, or about 1775. He claimed to 
haye been a playmate of Clay, and always 
referred to the Sage of Ashland as '^ Henry." 
Solomon emigrated from Virginia to Ken- 
tucky at the beginning of the nineteenth cen- 
tury and settled in Lexington. He became a 
cellar-digger, and for some years followed this 
occupation, until whiskey got the upper hand 
and he did nothing but sit on the curbstone, in 

105 



106 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

a drunken condition, and smoke the stubs of 
Clay's cigars. William Solomon earned his 
title of " King " in the following manner : One 
day, while intoxicated, he was employed to 
trim a tree in the court-house yard. He got 
out on a long limb and cut it too close to the 
body of the tree, when it snapped off and let 
him fall to the ground. His great wisdom in 
tree trimming quickly earned for him the title 
of King Solomon — after the wisest man of his- 
tory. Finally he became so utterly worthless 
that he was tried and sentenced to be sold 
for vagrancy. This was in the summer of 
1833. At the beginning of this year Lexing- 
ton was preparing to entertain Daniel Web- 
ster, Clay's mighty rival. As the clock struck 
the hour of noon of one of the most beautiful 
days of that eventful summer. Sheriff Thomas 
Brown stepped out upon the court-house steps, 
followed closely by a powerful man with a 
deep chest, strong arms, a mass of red hair 
that had not been combed for weeks, blurred, 
bloodshot eyes — such was old King Solomon. 
After making a humorous speech, the sheriff 
" knocked off " the Old King to Aunt Char- 
lotte, an old negress who sold pies and ginger- 
bread, and had known Solomon when he w^as 
a little boy playing with her young master in 
Virginia. She and the King were the surviv- 
ing members of that little company of Vir- 



Old King Solomon 107 

ginians from the same neighborhood that had 
emigrated to Kentucky in the early part of 
the century. 

James Lane Allen, in his story of King 
Solomon, says that Aunt Charlotte bought the 
King for thirteen dollars, but Ranck's '' His- 
tory of Lexington " says that she bought him 
for eighteen cents, and that he was a good 
investment, as he earned her seventy-five cents 
a day. Both of these writers claim to tell the 
true story of Solomon's life, so we simply have 
another case of two Kentucky authors dis- 
agreeing, which, by the way, has not been an 
uncommon occurrence with our State histori- 
ans. At any rate, Aunt Charlotte bought 
Solomon and took him to the little home that 
she had purchased by selling pies and ginger- 
bread. 

The night of the day upon which King 
Solomon was sold, M. Xaupi, a gamin of the 
French Revolution, gave a ball in the dancing- 
room over the confectionery of M. Giron. Men 
and women from all over central Kentucky 
were present ; among them the beautiful Helen 
Foster, of Mississippi, w^ho had recently mar- 
ried Richard Allen, of Kentucky. She w^ore 
her famous wedding-dress, afterwards de- 
scribed by her gifted son as ^^ a white satin with 
ethereal silk overdress embroidered in an oak- 
leaf of green." King Solomon had witnessed 



108 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

this ball from a sheltering doorstep on the 
opposite side of the street. Early in the morn- 
ing he went to the home of Aunt Charlotte and 
retired in the bed which she had prepared for 
him. 

The next day the dreaded cholera reached 
Lexington, and every one who could leave town 
did so. Those that remained were paralyzed 
with fear. In less than ten days fifteen hun- 
dred were prostrated, and dying at the rate of 
fifty a day. Of one family of nineteen mem- 
bers, seventeen died. Persons were buried in 
long trenches, and in boxes and trunks when 
the coffins gave out. Aunt Charlotte entreated 
Solomon to leave town, but he saw that the 
physicians, ministers, and even the grave-dig- 
gers were dead or dying, and he resolved to 
stay and bury the dead. Asking Aunt Char- 
lotte for his mattock and spade, he emerged 
into the street, resolved to serve the people 
who had laughed him to scorn. King Solo- 
mon is an excellent example of the old rule that 
crises make men. For weeks he dug the graves 
of the people who had made sport of him when 
they were living. 

In the old grave-yard on Short Street, where 
the Baptist church now stands, Solomon dug 
graves all summer. He became the man of 
the hour, and the people who had cursed him 
for his worthless life now praised him in the 



Old King Solomon 109 

work that he was doing. The very dogs had 
howled execrations against him, but now even 
the dogs licked his hands, and little children 
clung tenderly to him as the man who had 
buried the bodies of their parents. The Fourth 
of July of this year was spent by the people in 
fasting and prayer instead of revelling. But 
'' Nature soon smiles upon her own ravages 
and strews our graves with flowers." The 
autumn brought relief, and the students of 
Transylvania University were back in the 
" Kentucky Birmingham " once more. Friends 
met friends again, and among them Aunt Char- 
lotte and Old King Solomon were cynosures of 
all eyes. When court opened, Solomon went 
to the court-room, where the judge shook his 
hand, as did all the members of the bar that 
had survived the dreadful plague. He had 
buried the judge's wife and daughter one 
cloudy midnight, and also many of the law- 
yers and their relatives. This day was the 
" coronation scene in the life of King Solomon 
of Kentucky." A few years later. General 
Samuel Woodson Price, the blind soldier-artist 
and author of " The Old Masters of the Blue 
Grass," painted a picture of Solomon, which 
was placed in the Phoenix Hotel, and which 
was awarded a medal at the Cincinnati Exposi- 
tion some .years ago. After the cholera was 
over. Old King went back to his former habit 



110 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

of smoking Clay's cigar stubs and drinking 
grog. He only consented to sit for his pic- 
ture after General Price had promised to give 
him all the grog he could drink and all the 
cigars he could smoke. On November 22, 
1854, King Solomon died. He survived 
" Henry " something over two years, and went 
down to his grave an ardent Whig, and a man 
who, although a vagabond, had never sold his 
vote for lucre. Like Thomas Johnson, King 
Solomon lost his breath by whiskey, and he 
also, like Johnson, could ask, "Who would 
not die so sweet a death? " 

Some years ago his grave was hunted out 
in the Lexington Cemetery and marked with 
a little tombstone. It is in the shadow of 
Clay's monument, and, as in life, so in death 
he is overshadowed by the " Great Commoner." 

In 1891 James Lane Allen published his 
first book, entitled " Flute and Violin, and 
Other Kentucky Tales." This book, which is 
now generally admitted to be Allen's master- 
piece, contains a story of " King Solomon of 
Kentucky." While it is based on facts, it is 
one of the most striking stories that Kentucky's 
foremost novelist has given to the world. It 
has immortalized Solomon in story as Price 
had previously done in art. 



THE FILSON CLUB 



THE FILSON CLUB 

The Filson Club, named in honor of John Fil- 
son, the first Kentucky historian, was or- 
ganized in Louisville, Kentucky, May 15, 1884, 
by ten historically inclined Kentuckians: Col. 
E. T. Durrett, Gen. Basil W. Duke, Kichard 
H. Collins, John M. Brown, James S. Pirtle, 
Thomas W. Bullitt, Alexander P. Humphrey, 
William Chenault, George M. Davie, and 
Thomas Speed. These ten men were all citi- 
zens of Louisville. 

Colonel Durrett was elected as the club's 
first president, and he has served in this capac- 
ity for twenty-three years. He may be rightly 
considered the founder of the Filson Club. 
Reuben Thomas Durrett was born in Henry 
County, Kentucky, January 22, 1824. He 
studied for two years at Georgetown College 
and then went to Brown University, graduat- 
ing in the class of 1849. The following year 
he studied law at the University of Louisville 
Law School, and for the next thirty years he 
was a leading Louisville attorney. For a 
time Colonel Durrett was one of the editors 
of the Louisville Daily Courier, and in 1871 

113 



114 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

he founded the Public Library of Kentucky. 
Georgetown College, Brown University, and 
the University of Louisville have conferred the 
degree of Doctor of Laws upon him. Intel- 
lectually and physically, Colonel Durrett is 
a magnificent man. 

Col. Josiah Stoddard Johnston was elected 
as the Filson Club's vice-president. He is a 
nephew of the famous Kentuckian, General 
Albert Sidney Johnston. Colonel Johnston 
was born in New Orleans, February 10, 1833, 
and graduated at Yale in his twentieth year. 
For twelve years he w^as president of the Yale 
Alumni Association of Kentucky. Colonel 
Johnston has been a lawyer, planter, Confed- 
erate soldier, politician, author, journalist, 
and in all distinguished. He is now one of the 
editors of the Courier -Journal. 

Captain Thomas Speed w^as elected secre- 
tary of the Filson Club, and served for twenty 
years, until his death, which occurred a year 
or more ago. Captain Speed was born in 
Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1841, and was edu- 
cated at Centre and Hanover Colleges. He 
was a gallant Union soldier during the civil 
war. After the war Captain Speed studied 
law at the University of Michigan, and prac- 
ticed in partnership with James Speed, 
Abraham Lincoln's Attorney-General. From 
July 9, 1892, until his death. Captain Speed 



The Filson Club 115 

was Clerk of the United States Circuit and 
District Courts in tlie district of Kentucky. 

The Kentucky Title-Savings Bank was ap- 
pointed as the treasurer of the Filson Club, 
and has been continued in that office to the 
present time. It was decided not to sell the 
Club publications, in the commercial sense, 
but to distribute them among the four hun- 
dred members at |3 per copy. This payment 
also covers the membership dues. 

The meetings of the Club are held on the 
first Monday night in every month, except 
July, August, and September, when the sum- 
mer vacation occurs, at Colonel Durrett's resi- 
dence, 202 East Chestnut Street. They may 
be divided into three parts : the business meet- 
ing, the literary, and then the social side of the 
program. The business meeting over, which is 
mostly taken up with the election of new mem- 
bers, Colonel Durrett introduces the reader 
of the paper. If a lady, the men rise from their 
chairs and bow. After the paper is read, comes 
the discussion, in which not only the points 
brought out in the paper of the evening are 
discussed, but the members delight in aug- 
menting it many times by personal reminis- 
cence. If a member has no business to bring 
before the Club, no paper to read, no word of 
testimony fo give, then the last number on the 
program is one in which he can take part — 



116 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

that is, to drink some of " the ColoneFs cider " 
and smoke one of Mr. BickeFs Filson Club 
cigars. Every good member of the Club, re- 
gardless of age, sex, or previous condition of 
servitude, is expected to drink a glass of cider ; 
smoking is optional. 

The Filson Club was not founded for feast- 
ing, however, but for serious historical work. 
It was " established for the purpose of collect- 
ing and preserving the history of Kentucky, 
the biography of its citizens, and the tradi- 
tions of its pioneers." This task it has faith- 
fully performed. 

The first publication of the Filson Club was 
issued in 1884, the year the Club was founded, 
and just a century after the publication of 
John Filson's quaint little volume. It was 
eminently fitting that the founder of the Club 
should be the author of the first publication, 
and also that the subject treated should be 
" The Life and Writings of John Filson '' — 
the man after whom the Club was named. 

The second publication was " The Wilder- 
ness Road,'' by Capt. Thomas Speed. Besides 
the manuscripts that Captain Speed gave to 
the Filson Club, he collected history of the 
Speed family in America. But his most im- 
portant work is " The Union Cause in Ken- 
tucky," which the Putnams brought out this 
spring. 



The FUson Clvh 117 

The third publication was " The Pioneer 
Press of Kentucky," by W. H. Perrin. This 
book covered the history of the press in Ken- 
tucky from the establishment of John Brad- 
ford's Gazette — the second newspaper, and not 
the first, as many believe, published west of 
the Alleghanies, August 18, 1787— to the estab- 
lishment of the Daily Press in 1830. It was 
illustrated with facsimile pages from the Ken- 
tucky Gazette and Farmei^s Library ^ a view of 
the first printing-house in Kentucky, and pic- 
tures of John Bradford, Shadrack Penn, and 
George D. Prentice. 

The next publication was the "Life and 
Times of Judge Caleb Wallace," the first As- 
sociate Justice of the Kentucky Court of 
Appeals. It was written by Kev. William H. 
Whitsitt, D. D., and published in 1888. Dr. 
Whitsitt is a Baptist theologian of great 
ability. His works on the Baptist form of 
Christianity are admirable. Dr. Whitsitt was 
the associate editor of " Johnston's Universal 
Cyclopedia," and now lives in Kichmond, Vir- 
ginia. 

The fifth publication was written by Colonel 
Durrett, and Avas " An Historical Sketch of St. 
Paul's Church." This sketch was prepared 
for the semi-centennial celebration, which 
was held on October 6, 1889. It was illus- 
trated with pictures of the leading pastors of 



118 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

this historic church and with cuts of the 
church. 

The same year the most profound of any of 
the publications was issued, entitled " The Po- 
litical Beginnings of Kentucky," by Col. John 
Mason Brown. Colonel Brown was a learned 
historian, and his book is of great value in the 
study of early political conditions in our 
State. The work treated the political history 
from the beginning up to the admission of Ken- 
tucky as an American State. Kentucky was 
admitted into the Union June 1, 1792 — one 
year after the admission of Vermont, and the 
second State admitted after the Revolution. 

On October 6, 1891, the Filson Club was 
incorporated for the purpose, as explained in 
its charter, of collecting and publishing the 
history of Kentucky and for cultivating a 
taste for the history of our State. 

The Kentucky centennial, which occurred in 
1892, was celebrated by the Filson Club with 
a banquet which was held at the Gait House 
on June 1. At this banquet Colonel Dur- 
rett presided, and Major Henry T. Stanton, 
the Kentucky poet, the author of " The Money- 
less Man," read a poem entitled " Kentucky." 
Later in the same year Colonel Durrett com- 
piled the banquet speeches and Stanton's poem 
and published a volume entitled " The Cente- 
nary of Kentucky." 



The Filson Club 119 

The predecessor of the Filson Club was the 
Southern Historical Association, which was 
disbanded when the Filson Club was organ- 
ized. For the eighth publication Colonel Dur- 
rett published a paper that he had read before 
the Southern Association on May 1, 1880, 
commemorative of the one hundredth anni- 
versary of the founding of Louisville by George 
Kogers Clark. It contained portraits of Dur- 
rett, Clark, and La Salle, and was called " The 
Centenary of Louisville." 

In 1894 Captain Speed contributed a paper 
on "The Political Club of Danville, Ken- 
tucky,'' which was founded in 1786 and dis- 
banded in 1790. The original papers were 
found by Speed after a search of many years. 

The tenth publication was Dr. Call's " Rafin- 
esque." Rafinesque was a professor of natu- 
ral science at old Transylvania University for 
some years, and Call's book is illustrated 
with likenesses of the fishes of the Ohio and 
the botany of Louisville. 

Dr. Robert Peter, of Lexington, Kentucky, 
prepared an able paper on the rise, decline, 
and fall of Transylvania University. For 
many years Dr. Peter was professor of chem- 
istry at Transylvania University, and he was 
thoroughly acquainted with its history. He 
was probably the ablest chemist that Ken- 
tucky has produced. It was not published 



120 Kentuckians m Hist or?/ and Literature 

until after the Doctor's death, and was pre- 
pared for publication by his daughter, Miss 
Johanna Peter, who now lives in Fayette 
County. 

The twelfth publication was made up of the 
memorial proceedings held at Bryan's Station 
in 1896 under the auspices of the Lexington 
Chapter, D. A. K., and was prepared by Col- 
onel Durrett for publication. It contained 
portraits of many Lexingtonians, and is the 
most distinctly Lexington book which the 
Club has issued. 

Col. J. Stoddard Johnston edited for publi- 
cation, in 1898, the journals of Dr. Thomas 
Walker and Col. Christopher Gist, under the 
title of " The First Explorations of Kentucky." 
Besides this book. Colonel Johnston has writ- 
ten a history of Louisville, in two volumes, and 
the " Confederate History of Kentucky." Ke- 
cently, the papers of Gen. John C. Breckin- 
ridge, his old chief, have been turned over to 
him to prepare a biography of the youngest 
of the American Vice-Presidents. 

In 1899 the Club issued two books in one. 
The first paper was written by Z. F. Smith, 
the Kentucky historian, which was a sketch 
of Henry Clay's mother, and the second part 
was written by Mary Rogers Clay on the gene- 
alogy of the Clays. The book was illustrated 
with Clay pictures and pictures of the authors. 



The Filson Clvb 191 

At the meeting in October, 1905, Alfred Pir- 
tle was elected to succeed Captain Speed as 
secretary of the Filson Club. As the fifteenth 
publication. Captain Pirtle's " The Battle of 
Tippecanoe '' was published as the first of an 
historical trilogy. It was illustrated with pic- 
tures of William H. Harrison, Col. Joseph 
H. Daveiss, and the famous Indian, " The 
Prophet." The historian of Lexington, George 
W. Kanck, contributed the history of Boones- 
borough, with pictures of Boone and of many 
Boone relics as the sixteenth publication. 

The most artistic of the Filson Club publica- 
tions was printed in 1902, written by Gen. 
Samuel W. Price, the artist, entitled '' Old 
Masters of the Blue Grass." It contained bio- 
graphical sketches of the famous Kentucky 
artists, Jouett, Bush, Frazer, Grimes, and 
Hart, and many reproductions of their Avork. 

The next year Col. Bennett H. Young's his- 
tory of the " Battle of the Thames," with a 
list of the Kentucky soldiers that were in the 
battle, was published. Colonel Young's book 
formed the second of the historical trilogy, and 
is regarded by many persons as the best of the 
Filson Club publications. Colonel Young pre- 
pared the book with great care, and it tells in 
detail of the gallant Kentuckians who fell 
in that memorable battle. Among Colonel 
Young's other books are histories of the Ken- 



122 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

tucky Constitution, and of evangelistic work 
in Kentucky, history of the Battle of Blue 
Licks, and of his native county. Jessamine. 

Young's ^' Battle of the Thames '' was fol- 
lowed by a history of the " Battle of New 
Orleans," by Z. F. Smith, and contains por- 
traits of Governors Shelby and Slaughter. 
Mr. Smith's work closed the trilogy of battles 
in which Kentuckians took such prominent 
parts. Mr. Smith is, after Collins, the ablest 
historian that our Commonwealth has had. 

In 1905 Miss Peter prepared her father's 
history of the medical department of Transyl- 
vania University for publication. It was il- 
lustrated with pictures of the Transylvania 
professors and sketches of them. 

The twenty-first publication was issued by 
John P. Morton & Co., the house that has pre- 
pared all of the Club's publications, and was 
written by a former Kentucky newspaper man, 
Anderson Q. Quisenberry, now living in 
Washington City. It is entitled " Lopez's 
Expeditions to Cuba, 1850-1851." The two 
Kentuckians who made this expedition fa- 
mous were Col. Theodore O'Hara, the author of 
an immortal martial poem, and Col. William 
L. Crittenden, whose last words proclaimed 
another American hero and martyr. 

Mr. Quisenberry originally intended to 
write a novel founded on these expeditions, to 



The Filson Clvh 123 

be called " The Strong in Heart," but finally 
decided to write the history of the expedi- 
tions, thus giving James Lane Allen or John 
Fox, Jr., a background for a Kentucky novel, 
which he hopes, as he says in his preface, one 
or the other of them will write. Mr. Quisen- 
berry is the author of a biography of Hum- 
phrey Marshall the elder, and several other 
valuable books. His account of Lopez's Ex- 
peditions is, in the opinion of many, the most 
readable of any of the Filson Club books. 

The latest publication of the Club is enti- 
tled "The Quest for a Lost Kace," by Dr. 
Thomas E. Pickett, of Maysville, Kentucky. 
The book presents Paul Du Chaillu's theory of 
the origin of the English-speaking race. Du 
Chaillu contended that the English were de- 
scended from the Scandinavians rather than 
the Teutons — from the Normans rather than 
the Germans. Dr. Pickett presents the theory 
of Du Chaillu ably and fairly. The book 
is illustrated with half-tone likenesses of 
the author, of King William the Conqueror, of 
Du Chaillu, of several maps of Scandinavia 
and England, and of quite a number of dis- 
tinguished Kentuckians who are supposed to 
be of Scandinavian or Norman-French origin. 
Altogether, the book is one of unusual beauty. 
The Filson^ Club publications are the delight 
of all students of our State's history. 



THE KENTUCKY HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY 



THE KENTUCKY HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY 

In examining the files of the old Frankfort 
Commontcealthy one of the best of the early 
Kentucky newspapers, in search of data for an 
historical work that I had in preparation, I 
discovered the announcement founding the 
Kentucky State Historical Society. As I had 
thought that the Society was of recent estab- 
lishment, I was surprised to ascertain that it 
was founded oyer half a century ago. Shortly 
after finding out the date of the Kentucky 
Society organization, I also became interested 
in the origin of historical societies in this 
country, and what is found in this essay is the 
result of that interest. 

The originator of the historical society idea 
in the United States was John Pintard, a 
graduate of Princeton Uniyersity, and a native 
of New York. His visit to Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, resulted in the formation of the first 
historical society that was organized in Amer- 
ica — the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
founded in 1781. Thirteen years later it was 
incorporated, and for over a century has been 
enriching American history by its publica- 

127 



128 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

tions, known as " Collections " and " Proceed- 
ings." 

The second historical society to be founded 
in the United States was the New York His- 
torical Society, also organized through Pin- 
tard's efforts, in 1804. Eighteen years later 
historical societies for the States of Maine and 
Rhode Island were established. In 1824 the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania was 
founded at Philadelphia. The following year 
the Connecticut Historical Society was or- 
ganized at Hartford. The first historical so- 
ciety in the West was the Indiana Society, 
which was established at Indianapolis in 1830. 
The first society to be organized in the South 
was founded the following year — the Virginia 
Historical Society, which has done such, good 
work for Virginia history. Its quarterly pub- 
lication. The Virginia Magazine of History 
and Biography, is edited by the Society's sec- 
retary, William G. Stanard. Two years later 
the Historical Society of North Carolina was 
founded. The headquarters of the Society are 
now at Chapel Hill, the seat of the University 
of North Carolina. The present secretary is 
Dr. K. P. Battle, professor of history at the 
University. On January 15, 1836, about three 
months before the Kentucky Historical So- 
ciety was organized, the Louisiana Historical 
Society was established at Baton Rouge, but 



The Kentucky Historial Society 1£9 

has headquarters at New Orleans at the pres- 
ent time. 

The eleventh historical society to be organ- 
ized on American soil was the Kentucky State 
Historical Society, which was established at 
Frankfort, the capital of the State, on April 
22, 1836. The meeting of organization was 
held in the Secretary of State's office, which 
was situated in the public square in Frankfort. 
A number of gentlemen interested in Ken- 
tucky history were present, and John Brown, 
Esq., was appointed president of the meeting. 
C. S. Todd was appointed vice-president, and 
Gerv^as E. Russell, secretary. 

The following resolutions in regard to the 
formation of the Society were adopted : 

^^ Resolved, That measures be taken to or- 
ganize a historical society for the State of 
Kentucky, the object of which shall be to col- 
lect and preserve authentic information and 
facts connected with the early history of the 
State ; 

" That the society shall be composed of a 
president, vice-president, and such other 
officers as may be deemed necessary to make it 
efficient and useful; 

" One of the main objects of the Association 
shall be to celebrate, in such a manner as 
shall be deemed most expedient, the anniver- 



130 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

sarv of the first settlement of Kentucky on the 
spot where that settlement was made ; 

" The more effectually to accomplish this 
object, it will be the duty of the Secretary to 
select some person or persons to deliver an 
address suitable to the occasion, on the day 
set apart for the annual celebration; 

" The Society shall be composed of native 
citizens of Kentucky, or such as may have in- 
termarried with families born in the State, and 
of those citizens who may have emigrated to it 
prior to June 1, 1792, when the Constitution 
went into operation; 

" Auxiliary societies may be formed in 
every town and neighborhood, where sufficient 
interest may be felt to unite in the promotion 
of an object so important to the preservation of 
the facts and events connected with the first 
settlement of the State; 

" It is expected that as many members as 
practicable, who may have been born anterior 
to the organization of the State, will attend 
each anniversary for the purpose of communi- 
cating the incidents connected with the early 
history of Kentucky. It is distinctly under- 
stood that a general participation is recom- 
mended — the character of membership will 
be confined to no political or religious party; 

" A constitution for the society, more in de- 
tail, shall be adopted, defining its objects and 



The Kentucky Historial Society 131 

the principles on which it shall be con- 
ducted.'' 

After adoption of these ten resolutions, Or- 
lando Brown was appointed as first corre- 
sponding secretary of the Society. Hon. John 
Kowan was elected as the first president. 
Eowan was a distinguished Kentucky lawyer, 
and a bitter opponent of Henry Clay. He was 
probably the best Latin scholar of his day in 
Kentucky, and i)repared a manuscript Latin 
grammar for his ow^n diversion. Rowan lived 
near Bardstown, Kentucky, in Nelson County, 
at his famous country home, ^' Federal Hill." 
He was the uncle of Stephen Collins Foster, 
and it was while on a visit to Rowan that Fos- 
ter wrote " My Old Kentucky Home." To-day 
at " Federal Hill " the oil painting of John 
Rowan, first president of the Kentucky His- 
torical Society, looks down at the table upon 
which Foster wrote his immortal melody. 

On January 21, 1841, probably through Ro- 
wan's efforts, the Kentucky legislature di- 
rected one copy each of its journals, and all 
books published by the State, to be deposited 
with the Society, " to be accessible to the ex- 
amination of any citizen." This law has been 
carried out, and many State books have been 
thus preserved. 

Judge Rowan died in Louisville, Kentucky, 



132 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

July 13, 1843, in his seventieth year, and 
the Kentucky Historical Society rapidly de- 
clined. For several years after Eowan's death 
it struggled along, but when the clouds of civil 
strife began to gather it was thought best, by 
those in charge, to discontinue the Society. 
This was done, and for over a decade Kentucky 
had no historical society. 

Ten years after the civil war, or in 1875, the 
Frankfort " Lyceum " was organized, and out 
of this organization was formed a society or 
club for the reorganization of the suspended 
Historical Society. This club took steps for 
a more permanent formation of an histor- 
ical society, and in 1878 it was regularly 
organized as the Kentucky Historical Society. 
In 1879-1880 the Society presented a peti- 
tion to the legislature asking for an appropri- 
ation and rooms in the ncAv wing of the Cap- 
itol then being erected. The request was 
granted. They secured a charter and used the 
money appropriated for the equipment of the 
rooms. Preston H. Leslie, afterwards Gov- 
ernor of Montana, was then Governor of Ken- 
tucky, and was elected as the first president 
of the reorganized Kentucky State Historical 
Society. During Governor James B. Mc- 
Creary's administration a little pamphlet was 
issued, out of which the Society's magazine of 
to-day, The Register^ grew. Since its reorgan- 



The Kentucky Historial Society 133 

ization the Governors of Kentucky have been 
chosen as presidents of the Society. 

During Governor Simon B. Buckner's ad- 
ministration regular meetings were suspended, 
and when Governor John Young Brown came 
into office he closed the Society's rooms and 
kept the keys. Governor William O. Bradley 
gave the rooms up as an office for a State 
department. In 1896 the rooms were again 
given to the Society, when it was re-established 
by Mrs. Jennie C. Morton, the Kentucky 
poetess. It was regularly reorganized by the 
union of the Frankfort Society of Colonial 
Daughters and resident members of the His- 
torical Society, as it existed until discontin- 
ued during Governor Buckner's administra- 
tion. 

Governor Bradley became president ex- 
ofpcio of the Kentucky Historical Society, and 
held the office until 1900, when Governor J. C. 
W. Beckham succeeded him. Governor Beck- 
ham has been the best president the Society 
has ever had. In his message to the legislature 
last winter he recommended that an annual 
appropriation of $5,000 be given to the Society, 
and it was done. Also, through his influence, 
suitable rooms have been allotted to the So- 
ciety in the new State Capitol that is now 
being erected. 

The first number of The Register^ the official 



134 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

publication of the Society, edited by Mrs. Jen- 
nie C. Morton, was issued in January, 1903. 
It is published quarterly and the subscription 
is |1.00 per year. The membership fee is the 
same amount. Every Kentuckian is entitled 
to membership in the Kentucky State Histori- 
cal Society, and every son or daughter of 
Kentucky who loves the State should be a sub- 
scriber to the magazine and a member of the 
Society. Two meetings are held during the 
year: the annual meeting on June 7, and the 
business meeting on October 3. Under the 
care of its distinguished president. Governor 
Beckham, who hails from the same town that 
the Society's first president came from, and 
its secretary and treasurer, Mrs. Morton, the 
Society is doing a good work for the preserva- 
tion of Kentucky history, and it deserves the 
support of all loyal Kentuckians. 



HAS KENTUCKY PRODUCED A POET? 



HAS KENTUCKY PKODUCED A POET? 

Edmund Gosse, the English critic, in his book 
called '' Questions at Issue," has a chapter en- 
titled ^' Has America Produced a Poet? " 
Gosse answered this question affirmatively, 
saying that America has produced only one 
really great poet — Edgar Allan Poe. 

Now, without entering into a discussion 
whether or no Poe is the greatest American 
poet, or whether or no Lowell is the greatest 
American poet, by changing the subject of the 
chapter's title from America to Kentucky, and 
saying, " Has Kentucky produced a poet? '' 1 
have found the title for this paper. I, too, 
wish to answ^er the question, as I have changed 
it, affirmatively, and say that Kentucky has 
produced not one, but two really great poets 
— Theodore O'Hara and Madison Cawein — my 
definition of greatness being more modest than 
the one of Mr. Gosse. 

It means a great deal to say that from the 
time Thomas Johnson published, in 1796, 
^' The Kentucky Miscellany " until 1847, when 
O'Hara published " The Bivouac of the Dead," 
Kentucky produced only one genuine poet, 

137 



138 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

and from 1847 to 1902, when Cawein published 
" Kentucky Poems," she produced another 
poet that can fairly take his place beside 
O'Hara. The student of Kentucky history 
who has paid but passing notice to the litera- 
ture of the State — and we have, as Mr. Allen 
has pointed out, " produced little or no litera- 
ture '' — will at once say, " Why, there is Pren- 
tice, Stanton, Cutter, Harney, Cosby, Shaler, 
and Butler. Surely there is one, at least, 
among the many verses that these persons 
wrote, one really good poem." But if a con- 
gress of American poets were held it is safe 
to say that the people of Kentucky would 
choose Theodore O'Hara and Madison Cawein 
as their representatives. 

The author of our State song, — Stephen Col- 
lins Foster, — while the foremost of American 
song writers, was a Pennsylvanian, and spent 
only a short time in Kentucky, the time in 
which he wrote " My Old Kentucky Home." 

" Father " Abram Joseph Ryan, the poet- 
priest of the Confederacy, and one of the five 
greater Southern poets, died in Louisville, 
where he w^as engaged on his " Life of Christ." 
But a few months of residence is a very slender 
claim that any State can hold upon a man. If 
Kentucky had stronger claims on Foster and 
Ryan she would have four distinguished poets 
instead of two. 



Has Kentucky Produced a Poet? 139 

Of the great O'Hara little need be said in 
this paper, as he has found a biographer. It 
is enough to say here that his immortal master- 
piece, " The Bivouac of the Dead," remains the 
one great elegy in American literature. Bry- 
ant's " Thanatopsis " is the only poem in our 
literature that can be compared with the 
" Bivouac," and it is too general in tone to be 
classed strictly as an elegy. 

If a poet is to be judged by a single pro- 
duction, O'Hara is the greatest Kentucky 
poet; if a poet is to be judged by the body of 
his work, and not on a single production, Ca- 
wein is the greatest Kentucky poet. Much 
has been written of Cawein's poetry, but very 
little has been written of his life. 

Madison Julius Cawein was born in Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, March 23, 1865. Paul Lei- 
cester Ford, author of " The Many-sided 
Franklin " and " Wanted — A Matchmaker," 
was born on the same day, in Brooklyn, New 
York. Cawein was the son of William and 
Christiana Cawein. 

After some preparatory work, Madison Ca- 
wein entered the Louisville Male High School 
in 1881, at the age of sixteen years. He began 
to write verses while attending the High 
School, and recited them from the chapel ros- 
trum. He wrote all of his declamations in 
verse, which he afterwards destroyed. While 



140 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

at the High School he wrote enough verse to 
fill two large volumes. He was graduated in 
1886, in a class of thirteen, at the age of 
twenty-one years. Unlike a great many poets, 
none of Cawein's classmates have become fa- 
mous. The year after his graduation, John P. 
Morton & Co., of Louisville, published his first 
book, " Blooms of the Berry." This book was 
made up of the best of his school verses. Wil- 
liam Dean Ho wells is the discoverer of Cawein. 
It was in the May number of Harpei^s Maga- 
zine of 1888, in the " Editor's Study," that Mr. 
Howells wrote an article on " A New Young 
Poet — Madison Cawein." After reviewing the 
poetry of Mr. Coates Kenney, the Ohio poet, 
and the author of the famous lyric, '' Eain on 
the Roof," Howells quoted Cawein's " The 
Ideal " and '^ A Guinevere." He also found 
" Something different from the beautiful as 
literary England or literary New York has 
conceived it. Here is a fresh strain ; the effect 
of longer seasons and wider horizons ; the wine 
of the old English vine planted in another soil 
and ripened by a sun of Italian fervor, has a 
sweetness and fire of its own. This native 
spirit is enveloped in flavor too cloying for the 
critical palate at times, but one can easily 
fancy the rapture it must have for a reader as 
young as the poet." Here is the part of the 
poem " Guinevere," quoted by Mr. Howells : 



Has Kentuclay Produced a Poet? 141 

Am I happy ? Ask the fire 

When it bursts its bounds and thrills 

Some mad hours, as it wills 
If those hours tire. 

See ! The moon has risen, white 

As the bursten lily here 

Eocking on the dusky mere 
Like a silent light. 

I must go now. See ! There fell, 
Molten into purple light, 
One wild star. Kiss me good-night, 

And once more farewell. 



Thomas Bailey Aldricli also reviewed 
" Blooms of the Berry " favorably in the At- 
lantic Monthly. These kind reviews of How- 
ells and Aldrich did a great deal for Cawein's 
reputation as a poet. What was greater still, 
they encouraged him to continue to write. 

The next year Cawein published " The Tri- 
umph of Music," and since then he has pub- 
lished one, and sometimes two, volumes a year. 
There are one or two years in which he has 
failed to publish a volume, but they are very 
few indeed. 

In 1891 Putnam's Sons brought out a volume 
of poems entitled " Days and Dreams." The 
next year, two books, with Cawein's name on 
the title-page, were published by the same firm : 
" Bed Leaves and Roses " and " Poems of 



142 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

Nature and Love." The latter volume was 
dedicated to " Joaquin Miller, the Poet of the 
Sierras." From the " Poems of Nature and 
Love " I have selected the following little 
lyric : 

APOCALYPSE 

Before I found you I had found 
Of your true eyes the open book 

(Where re-created heaven wound 
Its wisdom with it) in the brook. 

Ah. when I found you, looking in 
Those Scriptures of your eyes, above 

All earth, o'ersoared earth's vulture, Sin, 
So apotheosized to love. 

And, searching yet beneath it, saw 
The soul impatient of the sod — 

What wonder then your love should draw 
Me to the nearer love of God. 

In 1894 the same firm issued " Intimations 
of the Beautiful." " Intimations of the Beau- 
tiful " is the title poem, somewhat in the man- 
ner of " In Memoriam." Only three hundred 
and fifty copies of this book were published, 
and it is now out of print. He dedicated it to 
Henry M. Alden, editor of Harpet^s Marjazine, 
in the following language : " To the author of 
' God in his World ' with profound admira- 
tion." This book is the most philosophical 



Has Kentucky Produced a Poet? 143 

that Cawein has yet written, and is also his 
most sustained effort. 

The next year Cawein tried his hand at 
translation, and made a creditable rendering 
of some German poems, which were published 
under the title "The White Snake." This 
book of translations was issued by the Morton 
Company, as so many of Cawein's books have 
been. 

In 1896 he published two books, as he had 
done in 1892. The first was entitled " Under- 
tones " and the second " The Garden of 
Dreams." " Undertones " was inscribed to 
the pathetic memory of the poet Henry Tim- 
rod. 

In 1897 Cawein published nothing. He had 
published twelve books in nine years, and he 
was certainly entitled to a rest. This is a 
record which no American writer of standing 
can exceed. It has been the general adverse 
criticism that he has written too much — far too 
much. Cawein has also suffered from lack of 
self-criticism. He is not strict enough with 
himself and allows some poems to get into book 
form that ought to go into the waste basket. 

In 1898 K. H. Russell, of New York, 
brought out " Shapes and Shadows," contain- 
ing " A Southern Girl," and during the same 
year the Morton Company issued " Idyllic 
Monologues." 



144 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

The next year Cawein sent his manuscript 
to the Putnams, and they issued a volume 
which proved to be one of his most successful 
books, ^' Myth and Eomance." The poem on 
the battleship Kentucky is very fine. 



THE "KENTUCKY" 

(Battleship, launched March 24, 1898.) 

Here's to her who bears the name 

Of our State : 
May the glory of her fame 

Be as great! 

In the battle's dread eclipse, 

When she opens iron lips, 

When our ships confront the ships 

Of the foe. 
May each word of steel she utters carry woe! 

Here's to her ! 

Here's to her, who, like a knight 

Mailed of old. 
From far sea to sea the Eight 

Shall uphold. 
May she always deal defeat, — 
When contending navies meet, 
And the battle's screaming sleet 

Blinds and stuns, — 
With the red. terrific thunder of her guns. 

Here's to her! 



Has Kentucky Produced a Poet? 145 

Here's to her who bears the name 

Of our State : 
May the glory of her fame 

Be as great! 
Like a beacon, like a star, 
May she lead our squadrons far, — 
When the hurricane of war 

Shakes the world, — • 
With her pennant in the vanward broad un- 
furled. 

Here's to her! 

In 1900 Cawein published nothing. But in 
1901 Eichard G. Badger & Co., of Boston, is- 
sued a lyrical eclogue entitled " One Day and 
Another." In the same year the Morton Com- 
pany published "Weeds by the Wall." This 
volume contained " A Twilight Moth," which 
is Cawein's favorite of his poems. 

All day the primroses have thought of thee. 

Their golden heads close-haremed from the heat; 

All day the mystic moonflowers silkenly 

Veiled snowy faces — that no bee might greet 

Or butterfly that, weighed with pollen, passed — ■ 

Keeping Sultana-charms for thee, at last. 
Their lord, who comest to salute each sweet. 

Cool-throated flowers, that avoid the days^ 
Too-fervid kisses; every bud that drinks 
The tipsy dew and to the starlight plays 
Nocturnes of fragrance, thy mngVl shadow links 

In bonds of secret brotherhood and faith; 

bearer of their order's shibboleth. 
Like some pale symbol fluttering o'er these pinks. 



146 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

What dost thou whisper in the balsam's ear 
That sets it blushing, or the hollyhocks — 

A syllable silence that no man may hear — 
As dreamily upon its stem it rocks ? 

What spell dost bear from listening plant to plant, 

Like some white witch, some ghostly ministrant, 
Some spectre of some perished flower of phlox? 

voyager of that universe which lies 

Between the four walls of this garden fair — 

Whose constellations are the fireflies 

That wheel their instant courses everywhere — 

'Mid fair}^ firmaments wherein one sees 

Mimic Bootes and the Pleiades. 

Thou steerest like some fairy ship-of-air. 

Gnome-wrought of moonbeam fluff and gossamer, 
Silent as scent, perhaps thou chariotest 

]\rab or King Oberon; or, haply, her 

His queen, Titania, on some midnight quest. 

for the herb, the magic euphrasy. 

That should unmask thee to mine e3^es, ah me ! 
And all that world at which my soul hath guessed ! 

In the following year the same company 
brought out "A Voice on the Wind." 

In 1902 Grant Richards, of London, Eng- 
land, published a book entitled " Kentucky 
Poems," with a sympathetic introduction by 
Edmund Gosse. This book was made up of 
the best poems from all the books that Cawein 
had published. In other words, it contained 
the cream of Cawein. In his introduction 
Gosse says that " The solemn books of history 



Has Kentucky Produced a Poet? 147 

tell us that Kentucky was discovered in 1769 
by Daniel Boone, a hunter. But he first dis- 
covers a country who sees it first, and teaches 
the world to see it; no doubt, some day, the 
city of Louisville will erect, in one of its prin- 
cipal squares, a statue to Madison Cawein, 
who discovered the beauty of Kentucky.'' Mr. 
Gosse also says that, after the group of Mas- 
sachusetts writers, American poetry was 
" smart '' and " humorous," and that Cawein is 
now the only true living poet in this country. 
" History may perceive in Mr. Cawein the 
golden link that bound the music of the past 
to the music of the future through an interval 
of comparative tunelessness." 

During the year 1904 Cawein contributed 
a great many poems to the Atlantic Monthly^ 
The Century, The Reader, The Smart Set, The 
Metropolitan, and Earpei^s Magazine. He did 
not issue a book during this year, but in 1905 
E. P. Dutton & Co. published " The Vale of 
Tempe,'' which is made up of these magazine 
poems. One of the best short poems in the 
book is " Autumn Storm." 

The wind is risings and the leaves are swept 
Wildly before it, hundreds on hundreds fall 
Huddling beneath the trees. With brag and brawl 
Of storm the- day is grown a tavern, kept 
Of madness, where, with mantles torn and ripped 
Of flying leaves that beat above it all, 



148 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

The wild winds fight; and, like some half-spent ball, 
The acom stings the rout; and, silver-stripped, 
The milkweed-pod winks an exhausted lamp; 
Now, in his coat of tatters dark that streams. 
The ragged Eain sweeps stormily this way. 
With all his clamorous followers — clouds that camp 
Around the hearthstone of the west where gleams 
The last chill flame of the expiring day. 

Last fall Cawein published " Nature Notes 
and Impressions." This is his first prose pub- 
lication. A complete, uniform edition of Ca- 
wein's works, in five volumes, illustrated by 
Eric Pape, has just been issued. From the 
mechanical aspect the set is one of great beauty. 
Edmund Gosse, M. A., LL. D., who contributes 
the general introduction, says : " The only 
hermit-thrush now audible seems to sing from 
Louisville, Kentucky." 

A hand-book of the flora of Kentucky could 
easily be compiled from Cawein's poems. If 
the books of Sadie F. Pl-ice were destroyed, the 
flavor of Kentucky flora would remain in Ca- 
wein's poetry. He has received more inspira- 
tion in the field than in the library. The fauna 
and climate of Kentucky he has also treated. 
In the words of an English reviewer : " The 
sights and sounds of Nature in Kentucky, pic- 
tured with ardent enthusiasm and with a real 
talent for felicitous expression, have a fresh- 
ness to our ear which will commend Mr. Ca- 



Has Kentuchy Produced a Poet? 149 

wein's poetry to English readers. . . . Many 
of his poems show an exquisite sense of the 
beauties of Nature and a graceful command of 
musical language." 

A little lyric that Dr. Van Dyke called at- 
tention to some years ago is one of Cawein's 
best poems. It is entitled "Adventurers." 

Seemingly over the hill-tops, 

Possibly under the hills, 
A tireless wing that never drops, 

And a song that never stills. 

Epics heard on the stars' lips? 

Lyrics read in the dew? 
To sing the song at oiir finger-tips, 

And live the world anew ! 

Cavaliers of the Cortez kind, 
Bold and stern and strong, — 

And, oh, for a fine and muscular mind 
To sing a new-world's song! 

Sailing seas of the silver morn. 
Winds of the balm and spice. 

To put the Old-World art to scorn 
At the price of any price! 

Danger, death, but the hope high! 

God's, if the purpose fail! 
Into the deeds of a vaster sky 

Sailing a dauntless sail. 

If Sidney Lanier has a successor in South- 
ern poetry, Cawein is surely his successor. He 



150 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

is supreme among living Southern poets. 
Father John B. Tabb and Samuel M. Peck are 
his only rivals for this honor. Among living 
American poets, Cawein ranks with E. C. Sted- 
man, William V. Moody, James W. Riley, 
Edwin Markham, Henry van Dyke, and 
George E. Woodberry. His poetry is distin- 
guished from the poetry of these men by its 
Kentucky flavor. What his ultimate place in 
American letters will be, no one, of course, can 
tell. 

Cawein's poetry has been admired on both 
sides of the Atlantic. Some American tour- 
ists, lately returned from England, say that 
constantly in their travels they were asked if 
they knew the Kentucky poet. In England, as 
has already been suggested, Mr. Gosse, Wil- 
liam Archer, and Arthur Symons have ex- 
pressed their admiration for him in book form ; 
in America, Howells, Aldrich, John Bur- 
roughs, and Hamilton W. Mabie have ex- 
pressed their admiration for Cawein's poetry 
in magazine articles. The most appreciative 
recent critic of the Kentucky poet is Miss 
Jessie B. Rittenhouse. In her book, " The 
Younger American Poets," and in the literary 
magazines, she has given him high rank among 
the latter-day poets of America. James Lane 
Allen, the foremost name in Kentucky prose, 
has said that Cawein is the greatest Kentucky 
poet, living or dead. Edwin Carlile Litsey, the 



MBBamc^R*' 



Has Kentucky Produced a Poet? 151 

author of ^' The Love Story of Abner Stone," 
and the leader of the younger Kentucky writ- 
ers in both prose and verse, calls Cawein " The 
Kentucky Woodland Thrush." In an article 
in The Outlook on Edward A. Kobinson's " The 
Children of the Night," Theodore Koosevelt, 
the most literary of the American Presidents, 
has classed Cawein with Robinson, Clinton 
Scollard, Dr. Maurice Egan, and Bliss Car- 
man as the leading living American poets. 
These, then, are the Theodoran poets. " To 
acknowledge unfamiliarity with the poetry of 
Madison Cawein is to acknowledge a woeful 
ignorance of contemporary American litera- 
ture," says our President, and " Indian Sum- 
mer " is his favorite of Cawein's poems. 

Mr. Cawein has defined poetry, in a personal 
letter to me, as follows : " Poetry, I define, as 
the metrical or rhythmical expression of the 
emotions occasioned by the light or the knowl- 
edge of the beautiful and the noble in our- 
selves." A definition of poetry is to square 
the circle, and is interesting only as it shows 
the poet's attitude toward his work. Cawein 
was christened in the German Lutheran 
Church, but he has never renewed his vows. 
There are many sacred lyrics scattered 
throughout his volumes, one of the most beau- 
tiful being " Epilogue," the second stanza of 
which proves him to be not only a poet of Na- 
ture, but of Nature's God. 



m:- 



15^ Kentuchians m History and Literature 

God, our Father God !— 

Who gav'st us fire, 

To soar beyond the sod, 

To rise, aspire — 

What though we strive and strive, 

And all our soul says " live " ? 

The empty scorn of men 

Will sneer it down again. 

And, sun-centered high. 

Who, too, art Poet, 

Beneath Thy tender sky 

Each day new Keatses die. 

Calling all life a lie; 

Can this be so — and why? — 

And canst Thou know it? 

Mr. Cawein married on June 4, 1903, Miss 
Gertrude McKelvey, a noted singer, and lives 
at 18 St. James Court, Louisville. Here the 
" Kentucky Keats " labors the whole day 
through, leading strictly the literary life. 
While he has written nothing but lyrics hith- 
erto, would it not be worth while for him to at- 
tempt the drama or the epic? It is said that 
Stephen Phillips, the leader of the younger 
generation of English poets, is ambitious to 
write an epic of London life. Now, why could 
not Madison Cawein, the leader of the younger 
generation of American poets, combine his 
poems on Kentucky nature, with new poems 
on Kentucky heroes, and give to the world a 
mighty masterpiece — a Kentucky epic? 



CHIVERS 



CHIVERS 

While Whitman is the most original and 
Chivers the least original of our country's 
poets, their idiosyncrasies bracket them to- 
gether, forming the twin enigmas of American 
letters. The Camden poet placed thought 
above manner of expression ; the Georgia poet 
sacrificed sense to sound. The first liked the 
dark meat; the second cared most for the light 
meat. Critics who study such men are usually 
overly enthusiastic, or condemn their works 
outright as trash. This was the fate of Whit- 
man until he interested Mr. Bliss Perry in his 
poetry, and the admirable biography that the 
editor of The Atlantic wrote of him has done 
much, and will do more, to make him less of a 
riddle than he formerly was. But, poor Chi- 
vers ! No Bliss Perry has deigned to write an 
adequate account of his life and works. Of 
course, there is Joel Benton's " In the Poe 
Circle," Hubner's " Representative Southern 
Poets," Prof. G. E. Woodberry's Papers in 
The Century, and Prof. J. A. Harrison's no- 
tices in his Poe volumes, but no comprehen- 
sive biography. While the present writer is 
greatly indebted to the above-named authors, 

155 



156 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

this study is not written to thresh over their 
material, but accurately to record Chivers's 
life in Kentucky. This is made possible by the 
recent discovery of references to him in the old 
records of Transylvania University. But in 
presenting his Kentucky life it will be neces- 
sary to write of his entire career with some 
degree of detail. 

Thomas Holley Chivers, poet, artist, in- 
ventor, was born at Digby Manor, near Wash- 
ington, Georgia, in 1807. His ancestors were 
English on both sides, and he was given 
his paternal grandfather's Christian name. 
Thomas Holley was the eldest of a family of 
three sons and four daughters. His father 
was Col. Eobert Chivers, a wealthy Southern 
planter; his mother's family name was Digby. 
He was fitted for college at a well-known 
Georgia preparatory school, and, choosing 
medicine for his life work, he came to Lex- 
ington, Kentucky, in the fall of 1828, and en- 
tered the Medical School of the famous Tran- 
sylvania — now Kentucky University. 

The Medical School began on the first Mon- 
day in November and closed on the first Sat- 
urday of the following March. Dr. Chas. W. 
Short was dean of the schood at the time Chi- 
vers matriculated, and was also Professor of 
Materia Medica and Medical Botany, and the 
following men were his colleagues: Dr. Wm. 



Chivers 157 

H. Eichardson, Obstetrics and the Diseases of 
Women and Children ; Dr. Chas. Caldwell, In- 
stitutes of Medicine and Clinical Practice; 
Dr. B. W. Dudley, Anatomy and Surgery ; Dr. 
James Blythe, Chemistry and Pharmacy; and 
the chair of Theory and Practice of Medicine 
was held by Dr. John E. Cooke. These were 
the men under whom Chivers studied during 
the years spent at Transylvania University. 
They are the greatest names in the history of 
Kentucky medicine and surgery. As has 
been stated, Chivers entered the University in 
November, 1828, and the old Transylvania 
records show that he was the one hundred and 
thirty-fifth matriculate. He took a ticket for 
one course in a class of two hundred and six 
members. Chivers was undoubtedly a good 
student, as he made his ticket and then re- 
turned to his home in the early spring of 
1829. 

November, 1829, and Thomas Holley Chi- 
vers, of Wilkes County, Georgia, is the ninety- 
second matriculate in a class of one hundred 
and ninety-nine members. During his second 
year he took two tickets. His medical precep- 
tor, that is, the man with whom he studied be- 
fore coming to the University and also during 
vacation, was Dr. Leonidas B. Mercer, a grad- 
uate of the Philadelphia Medical College. 

On the morning of Wednesday, March 17, 



158 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

1830, the Board of Trustees of Transylvania 
University met in regular session, with Thomas 
Nelson, chairman pro tempore, presiding. A 
communication was received from Dean Short, 
requesting that the degree of Doctor of Medi- 
cine be conferred upon seventy-one young men 
from the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, North 
and South Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, 
Georgia, Mississippi, and Maryland. The 
Board immediately conferred the degrees upon 
the class, which was the largest one graduated 
up to that time. On the same day the public 
commencement was held in the Medical Hall, 
and all the graduates were required to present 
dissertations for the degree. Chivers's sub- 
ject was " Intermittent and Semittent Bilious 
Fever." 

From early boyhood Chivers had written 
verse, and one of his youthful attempts, 
" Georgia Waters,'' composed at Transylva- 
nia University, was afterward published in 
" Nacoochee." 

In 1832 Chivers went North to live, and 
soon afterward married a Northern woman. 
Miss Harriet Hunt. Their first four children 
died in infancy, but a son and two daughters 
were later born to them. The son died when a 
young man, but the two daughters are still 
living. 

Chivers published his first work, a tragedy. 



-'-r-'r-Tr^ft. 



Chivers 159 

" Conrad and Endora," at Philadelphia, in 
1834. The scene of this drama was laid in 
Kentucky, and the incidents were suggested 
by real events connected with Jeroboam 
Beauchamp's murder of Col. Solomon P. 
Sharp, at Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1825. 
Sharp had been the betrayer of Beauchamp's 
wife before the latter married her. When 
Beauchamp learned the facts, he went to 
Sharp's home and killed him. Poe wrote a 
drama on this murder, and Charles Fenno 
Hoffman and William Gilmore Simms wrote 
novels upon it. During the following year 
Chivers wrote for the ^^ on them Literary Mes- 
senger, the famous old paper of Richmond, 
Virginia. 

In 1837 Chivers issued his first volume of 
poems at New York, which he called " Nacoo- 
chee.'' This book attracted considerable at- 
tention, and the author spent much time in 
the North, where he met many distinguished 
persons. There was nothing in this first book 
but echoes of his poetical masters, Moore, Cole- 
ridge, Blake, Keats, Shelley, and the Bible. 
He " was one of the first Americans to be 
' Shelley-mad.' " He had been brought up a 
Baptist, but now he became a Swedenborgian, 
a transcendentalist, and an " associationist." 
" The son of a Southern slaveholder, a devotee 
of Shelley, a friend of Boston vagaries, Chi- 



160 Kentuchians m History and Literature 

vers had fallen on unlucky times"; and all 
these things became more a part of him as he 
grew older. 

In 1840 Edgar Allan Poe was making a des- 
perate effort to launch successfully the Pemi 
Magazine in Philadelphia. He persuaded 
Chivers to become one of his contributors and 
to obtain subscriptions for the magazine. The 
magazine fell through, and Chivers next heard 
from Poe when Poe " tomahawked " Chivers's 
poetry. Chivers remonstrated, and Poe apolo- 
gized. Two years later Poe again attempted 
to start the Penn Magazine, and this time 
asked Chivers to become his partner. Poe 
needed money and he knew that Chivers was 
about to get a large sum from his father's es- 
tate. The physician-poet refused to join him, 
but he did obtain some subscriptions for the 
magazine. About this time Chivers lost his 
little daughter and went South for the funeral. 
From Augusta, Georgia, under date of De- 
cember 7, 1842, Chivers wrote Poe one of the 
saddest letters ever penned. His reference to 
his little blue-eyed child is wonderfully pa- 
thetic and pitiful. At the close he asks Poe 
about the Penn Magazine, and Poe took two 
years to answer his letter. When he did reply 
he told Chivers that he had changed the name 
of the magazine to the Stylus, and renewed his 
offer to Chivers to join him. And again the 



T M f nn-.ii • rrT^TiTTfjr^-'iB i fl W 



Chivers 161 

Georgia poet refused. Althougli they had cor- 
responded for several years, Poe and Chivers 
met for the first time in 1845 on the street in 
New York. Poe was intoxicated, and Chivers 
took him home to Mrs. Clemm. When he was 
sober, Chivers called to see him, and they dis- 
cussed at length the world's " Sons of Song." 
Chivers afterward wrote his reminiscences of 
Poe, but they are untrustworthy. 

Just before he left New York for Georgia he 
published " The Lost Pleiad." Poe reviewed 
it favorably in his new magazine, The Broad- 
tvay Journal. He now made another attempt 
to get money from Chivers with which to pay 
for this paper, but the Doctor was too wise to 
sink any money in Poe's mushroom magazines. 
Two or three more letters passed between the 
two men, but Poe finally cast Chivers off when 
he saw he could not use him in a financial 
way. Chivers worshiped Poe, thought him the 
greatest of men, condoned his great weakness, 
but had sense enough not to let him burn up 
any of his money. He was a hero-worshiper, 
and Poe was his hero. Is it any wonder that 
he tried to ape his master? After Poe's death 
Chivers partially compiled a biography of him 
that would have successfully refuted, no doubt, 
Griswold's attack, had he lived to finish it. 

Chivers's next book was " Facets of Dia- 
mond," which was followed by " Eonchs of 



162 Kentuckians m History and Literature 

Rubj," his most famous volume. It was issued 
at New York in 1851, and contained one hun- 
dred and sixty-eight pages. Scholars are in- 
debted to Professor Harrison for discovering 
the meaning of Eonch-horn, shell. The titles 
of Chivers's other works, given in the order of 
their publication, are : " Virginalia," 1853 ; 
" Memoralia," published during the same year, 
containing " Eonchs of Ruby," preceded by a 
long poem; "Atlanta," 1855; "The Sons of 
Usna," a five-act drama, published at Phila- 
delphia in 1858 ; and his last volume, the only 
one with a conventional title, " Heroes of 
Freedom." 

A complete set of Chivers's works is to be 
found only in the British Museum; Brown 
University possesses six of the ten volumes. 
Individual volumes are owned by the poets 
Stedman and Swinburne, both of whom, and 
especially Swinburne, are great admirers of 
Chivers's poetry. 

Although primarily a poet, Chivers was also 
an artist and an inventor. He made several 
creditable portraits of his family and some 
splendid pen-and-ink sketches. He had an in- 
ventive mind, not only for the coining of curi- 
ous words and phrases, but for practical 
inventions. He originated a machine for un- 
winding the fiber from silk cocoons, that won 
a prize at a Southern exposition. Chivers was 
also a Hebrew scholar of recognized ability. 



Chivers 163 

The many biblical allusions in his poetry are 
the result of his study in this field. 

We come now to the famous Poe-Chivers 
controversy. It is essentially a one-sided af- 
fair, Chivers and his friends being the ones 
who fed the flames. It was in a letter to Wil- 
liam Gilmore Simms that Chivers said Poe 
stole the words " Lenore," " nevermore,'' and 
the form and rhythm of " The Kaven " from 
him, and then added that he was " the South- 
ern man who taught Mr. Poe all these things." 
To another friend Chivers wrote, " Poe stole all 
his ' Raven ' from me ; but was the greatest 
poetical critic that ever existed." Chivers's 
friends took up this charge, it was denied by 
Poe's friends, and thus the battle has been 
waged for over half a century. The charge is 
altogether absurd, but, in order to allow the 
reader to judge for himself, " To Allegra Flor- 
ence in Heaven " is reproduced in part. It 
was written in 1842, about two years before 
" The Raven " was published, and is the so- 
called " original " of Poe's great poem : 

When thy soft round form was lying 
On the bed where thon wert sighing, 
I conid not believe thee d^dng, 

Till thy angel-soul had fled; 
For no sickness gave me warning, 
Eosy health thy cheeks adorning — 
Till that hope-destroying morning. 

When my precious child lay dead ! 



164 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

N'ow, thy white shroud covers slightly 
Thy pale limbs, which were so sprightly, 
While thy snow-white arms lie lightly 

On thy soul-abandoned breast; 
As the dark blood faintly lingers 
In thy pale, cold, lily fingers, 
Thou, the sweetest of Heaven's singers! 

Just above thy heart at rest! 



Holy angels now are bending 
To receive thy soul ascending 
Up to Heaven to joys unending. 

And to bliss which is divine; 
While thy pale, cold form is fading 
Under death's dark wings now shading 
Thee with gloom which is pervading 

This poor, broken heart of mine ! 

For, as birds of the same feather 
On the earth will flock together. 
So, around thy Heavenly Father, 

They now gather there with thee — 
Ever joyful to behold thee — 
In their soft arms to enfold thee. 
And to whisper words oft told thee 

In this trying world by me! 
With my bowed head thus reclining 
On my hand, my heart repining, 
Shall my salt tears, ever shining 

On my pale cheeks, flow for thee — 
Bitter soul-drops ever stealing 
From the fount of holy feeling, 
Deepest anguish now revealing. 

For thy loss, dear child ! to me ! 



Chivers 166 

As an egg, when broken, never 
Can be mended, but must ever 
Be the same crushed egg forever — 

So shall this dark heart of mine! 
Which, though broken, is still breaking. 
And shall never more cease aching 
For the sleep which has no waking — 

For the sleep which now is thine! 

And as God doth lift thy spirit 
Up to Heaven, there to inherit 
Those rewards which it doth merit. 

Such as none have reaped before; 
Thy dear father will, to-morrow. 
Lay thy body, with deep sorrow, 
In the grave which is so narrow — 

There to rest for evermore! 

In Joel Benton's opinion " the most Poe-like 
and the best of his pieces is undoubtedly bis 
' Lily Adair.' " 



The Apollo Belvidere was adorning 
The Chamber where Eulalie lay, 

While Aurora, the Eose of the Morning. 
Smiled full in the face of the Day. 

All around stood the beautiful Graces 
Bathing Venus — some combing her hai] 

While she lay in her husband^s embraces 
A-moulding my Lily Adair — 
Of my fawn-like Lily Adair — 
Of my dove-like Lily Adair — 
Of my beautiful, dutiful Lily Adair. 



166 Kentuckians m History cmd Literature 



n 

Where the Oreads played in the Highlands, 

And the Water-Nymphs bathed in the streams. 
In the tall Jasper Eeeds of the Islands — 

She wandered in lifers early dreams. 
For the Wood-iSTymphs then brought from the Wild- 
wood 

The turtle-doves Venus kept there, 
Which the Dryades tamed, in liis childhood. 

For Cupid, to Lily Adair — 

To my dove-like Lily Adair — ■ 

To my lamb-like Lily x\dair — 

To my beautiful, dutiful Lily Adair. 



Ill 

Where the Opaline Swan circled, singing, 
With her eider-down Cygnets at noon. 

In the tall Jasper Eeeds that were springing 
From the marge of the crystal Lagoon — 

Rich Canticles, clarion-like, golden. 
Such as only true love can declare. 

Like an Archangel's voice in times olden — 
I went with my Lily Adair — 
With my lamb-like Lily Adair — 
With my saint-like Lily Adair — 
With my beautiful, dutiful Lily Adair. 



IV 

Her eyes, lily-lidded, were azure, 
Cerulean, celestial, divine — 

Suffused with the soul-light of pleasure. 
Which drew all the soul out of mine. 



Chivers 167 



She had all the rich grace of the Graces, 
And all that they had not to spare; 

For it took all their beautiful faces 
To make one for Lily Adair — 
For my Christ-like Lily Adair — 
For my Heaven-born Lily Adair — 
For my beautiful, dutiful Lily Adair. 



She was fairer by far than that Maiden, 
The star-bright Cassiope, 

Who was taken by angels to Aiden, 
And crowned with eternity. 

For her beauty the Sea-Nymphs offended, 
Because so surpassingly fair; 

And so death then the precious life ended 
Of my beautiful Lily Adair — • 
Of my Heaven-born tily Adair — 
Of my star-crowned Lily Adair — 
Of my beautiful, dutiful Lily Adair. 



VI 

From her Paradise-Isles in the ocean. 
To the beautiful City of On, 

By the mellifluent rivers of Goshen, 
My beautiful Lily is gone! 

In her Chariot of Fire translated. 

Like Elijah, she passed through the air. 

To the City of God golden-gated — 
The Home of my Lily Adair — 
Of my star-crowned Lily Adair — 
Of my God-loved Lily Adair — 
Of my beautiful, dutiful Lily Adair. 



168 Kentuckians in History amd Literature 



YII 

On the vista-path made by the Angels, 

In her Chariot of Fire, she rode. 
While the Cherubim sang their Evangels — 

To the Gates of the City of God. 
For the Cherubim-land that went with her, 

I saw them pass out of the air — 
I saw them go up through the ether 

Into Heaven with my Lily Adair — 

With my Christ-like Lilv Adair — 

With my God-like Lily Adair— 

With my beautiful, dutiful Lily Adair. 

In 1856 Chivers returned to Georgia and 
made his home in Decatur. He was now of- 
fered the chair of physiology in a Southern 
medical college, but ill health compelled him 
to decline. He died at his Decatur home, De- 
cember 18, 1858. His death was noticed all 
over the country, and a Danish scholar wrote 
an elegy on the event. 

Chivers had the poet's face. An old picture 
reveals a fine mouth, deep-set eyes, black hair, 
high forehead, altogether a splendid ensemble. 

What will probably prove to be his most im- 
mortal stanza is one in " Eosalie Lee,'' that 
Bayard Taylor called attention to. This title 
was a double steal from Poe and Philip P. 
Cooke. 



I 



Chivers 169 

Many mellow Cydonian suckets, 

Sweet apples, anthosmal, divine, 
From the ruby-rimmed beryline buckets, 

Star-gemmed, lily-shaped, hyaline; 
Like the sweet golden goblet found growing 

On the wild emerald cucumber-tree, 
Eich, brilliant, like chrysoprase glowing, 

Was my beautiful Kosalie Lee. 

While Chivers filched Poe's titles and what 
little thought there was in Poe's poems, no man 
can accuse the Doctor of haying appropriated 
Poe's vocabulary or his tropes. His diction 
and figures are certainly something new under 
the literary sun. He would never have claimed 
to be Poe's precursor had he not been troubled 
with the " Orphic egotism." Of course, Poe 
read Chivers's poems as he did many others, 
and they had a place in the making of " The 
Raven," but that he should claim any of his 
poems to have been the original of Poe's mas- 
terpiece was to make himself absurd in the 
eyes of all mankind. Professor Woodberry has 
stated the real difference between the immor- 
tal Poe and the " almost " immortal Chivers 
— •" The difference was that Poe was a genius, 
while Chivers only thought he was one." 



ONE WORD MORE 



ONE WOKD MORE 

When Jesus Christ said, " A prophet is not 
without honor, but in his own country, and 
among his own kin, and in his own house,'' He 
spoke a truth which Kentucky's literati have 
found cruelly true. Now, I do not claim Ken- 
tucky has given to the world more than a very 
few writers who could be called prophets, or 
the sons of prophets, but I do claim Kentucky 
has produced several writers who are more 
than herdsmen and gatherers of wild figs. 

It is indeed hard lines when the best in- 
formed man on Kentucky history can write 
that our State is a poor one in which to sell 
books; authors are more likely to starve here 
than in any other State ; and adds, he has been 
watching the trade for over fifty years, and 
knows only a half dozen books which have 
made money for the authors. But one may 
ask : " Do Kentucky authors write books 
merely for money?" "How about art for 
art's sake? " The fact that only one literary 
man, now a resident of Kentucky, lives solely 
by his pen, answers the first interrogation ; the 
others are ministers, professors, lawyers, jour- 

173 



174 KentucTcians m History amd Literature 

nalists, etc. To the second question, be it said, 
Kentucky authors are writing not for art's 
sake, but for humanity's sake. 

In the final chapter of this book I desire to 
call attention to the living Kentucky writers 
who are struggling for recognition. They may 
almost be called the submerged persons of 
Kentucky life. For lack of space, little more 
than the roll will be called — just a note about 
each writer. 

The foremost Kentucky novelists of to-day, 
James Lane Allen and John Fox, Jr., will be 
dismissed with just a word of comparative 
criticism, as both are well-known figures in 
contemporary American letters, and need no 
encomiums at my hands. Fox can tell a story 
better than Allen, but the older writer has been 
more fortunate in choosing his backgrounds, 
and in the style of prose that has chiefly char- 
acterized Kentucky novelists from the begin- 
ning — description — Allen is Fox's superior. 
It would, of course, be superfluous to say any- 
thing additional about the leader of our living 
poets, Mr. Cawein, as one paper has already 
been devoted to his life and work. It will also 
be unnecessary to mention the authors of the 
Filson Club publications, most of whom are 
still with us, as they, too, have been treated. 

That more fiction is being written by the 
present generation of American writers than 



Orbe Word More 175 

all other forms of literature combined, no one 
will gainsay. This is especially true of Ken- 
tucky's writers. And because we have more 
fiction to deal with than any other branch of 
literature, fiction will be considered first. 

A woman who has produced novels compar- 
able to any ever written by an American 
woman is Gertrude Atherton. Although born 
in California, Kentucky has a claim on her. 
In a personal letter, written from Munich, to 
the present writer, Mrs. Atherton tells of her 
Kentucky life : " I attended Sayre Institute 
for a year when I was sixteen, being sent East 
for my health. The doctor ordered a rigorous 
winter, and as my grandfather had a sister, 
Mrs. Robert Bullock, living in Lexington, I 
was sent to her. I remained only a year. . . . 
No, I have never written of Kentucky ; why, I 
hardly know, for my memories of my sojourn 
there are of the pleasantest. I have never for- 
gotten my delight in the first snow-storm and 
my first nutting expedition in the woods." 
" The Conqueror," a dramatized biography, 
and " Hamilton's Letters " conclusively prove 
Mrs. Atherton to be the greatest living student 
of Alexander Hamilton. " Rulers of Kings," 
" The Bell in the Fog," and her latest book, 
" Rezanov," have given her high rank among 
American writers of prose fiction. 

A woman upon whom Kentucky has a 



176 KentuMans in History and Literature 

stronger claim than upon Mrs. Atherton is 
Alice Hegan Rice. Born in Shelbyville, Ken- 
tucky, thirty-seven years ago, she was edu- 
cated at Hampton College, Louisville, and im- 
mediately began to write. She had a trunk 
full of rejected manuscripts when the Cen- 
tury Company accepted " Mrs. Wiggs of the 
Cabbage Patch," in 1901. The book may be 
rightfully called an epic of optimism. It 
struck out an untrodden path in American fic- 
tion. Alice Caldwell Hegan was the name 
that appeared on the title-page of the first edi- 
tions of " Mrs. Wiggs " ; but in the winter of 
1902 Miss Hegan married Cale Young Rice, a 
man of letters, two years her junior. In 1903 
Mrs. Rice's second book, " Lovey Mary," ap- 
peared. In only one chapter did she rise to 
the heights attained in her first novel. Two 
years ago in " Sandy " she told the love-story 
of a young Scotchman transplanted on Ken- 
tucky soil. Mrs. Rice's fourth book will prob- 
ably be published during this year. 

Ingram Crockett was born in Henderson, 
Kentucky, February 10, 1856. His father was 
a well-known lawyer and orator. Mr. Crock- 
ett was educated at the Henderson public 
schools, and then married Mary C. Stites in 
1887. His first work, a book of poems, enti- 
tled " Beneath Blue Skies and Gray," was 
published some years ago. The poem on Au- 



One Word More 177 

dubon is especially fine. This volume was 
followed by " A Year-Book of Kentucky Woods 
and Fields/' A finer piece of nature prose has 
never been written in Kentucky. Mr. Crock- 
ett's latest book, " A Brother of Christ," is a 
highly religious story. There is a sect in west- 
ern Kentucky known as Christiandelphians, 
and the hero of the author's story is a believer 
in this form of religion. How he broke away 
from this belief and came out a well-rounded 
Christian is Mr. Crockett's part to tell. 

One of Kentucky's proudest hopes in fiction 
is Abbie Carter Goodloe, the daughter of a dis- 
tinguished Kentucky lawyer, born in Ver- 
sailles, Kentucky, and graduated from Welles- 
ley in 1898. In the following year her first 
book, " College Girls," appeared. Four years 
later, " Calvert of Strathore," with its French 
background, was issued, bearing the Scribner 
imprint. In 1905 the same firm brought out 
her best and latest book, " iVt the Foot of the 
Rockies." Competent critics have favorably 
compared this work with some of Kipling's 
best stories. Miss Goodloe's home is in liter- 
ary Louisville, but she spends a great deal of 
her time in traveling. 

Edwin Carlile Litsey's first book, " The 
Princess of Granfalon," was a daring piece of 
imagination, but his " Love Story of Abner 
Stone" was milder, sweeter, and more digni- 



178 Kentuckians in History amd Literature 

fied. The story reminds one of Mr. Allen's 
" A Kentucky Cardinal," and it does not suffer 
by comparison with that little masterpiece. 
Something over a year ago Mr. Litsey's latest 
book, " The Eace of the Swift," a story of wild 
animals, was brought out by Little, Brown & 
Company. He has a new novel and a book of 
essays that will appear this winter. 

Mr. Litsey's friend, Frank Waller Allen, 
had an exquisite idyl of Kentucky life issued 
last year, entitled " Back to Arcady." The 
chaste language and high moral tone should 
have commended the book to more readers 
than it did. Students of Kentucky letters are 
now looking toward Missouri with wistful 
eyes for Mr. Allen's new book, " Old Authors 
to Read," which will be issued this fall. 

Born in Kentucky in 1849, James Newton 
Baskett migrated to Missouri and graduated 
from Missouri State University. Ill health 
compelled him to go to Colorado, where he 
spent several years. Mr. Baskett has writ- 
ten three standard zoological works, and the 
Macmillan Company issued his first two 
novels — " At You-All's House " and " As the 
Light Led." His latest work, " Sweet Brier 
and Thistledown," was published four or five 
years ago. 

Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews is one of 
the cleverest of the present-day school of novel- 



One Word More 179 

ists. She is the daughter of a distinguished 
Episcopal minister and an " all-Kentuekian." 
" Vive rEmpereur," " A Kidnapped Colony," 
" Bob and the Guides,'' " The Perfect Tribute," 
and " The Militants " are her published works. 
Probably the best thing Mrs. Andrews has 
done is " The Perfect Tribute " — Lincoln's re- 
ception at Gettysburg. 

The associate editor of the Courier- Journal, 
Harrison Kobertson, is a Tennesseean born. 
Mr. Kobertson is more of a journalist than a 
novelist, but he has written six works of fic- 
tion : " How the Derby Was Won," " If I Were 
a Man," " Ked Blood and Blue," ''The In- 
lander," " The Opponents," and his most re- 
cent novel, " The Pink Typhoon," an auto- 
mobile love-story. 

Elizabeth Robins was bom in Kentucky and 
educated in Ohio. She is now living in Lon- 
don. Miss Eobins has written " Fatal Gift of 
Beauty," " The Open Question," " The Mag- 
netic North," ''A Dark Lantern," and her 
latest story, " Come and Find Me," is running 
serially in The Century at the present time. 
She has also produced a play, " Votes for 
Women," that is an English sensation. 

Three Kentucky women have won the hearts 
of many children on both sides of the Atlantic 
by their stories of child life. Mrs. Annie Fel- 
lows Johnston with her famous " Little Colo- 



180 Kentuchians m History and Literature 

nel " series ; Mrs. George Madden Martin with 
" Emmy Lou/' " The House of Fulfillment/' 
and her latest story, " Letitia : Nursery Corps, 
U. S. A/'; and Mrs. Martin's sister, Eva A. 
Madden, now living in Italy, has written 
historical books for children in a remarkably 
simple manner. Miss Madden's " Two Koyal 
Foes " will be issued in time for the Christ- 
mas trade. A boy's story, of the Cooper type, 
was told by Garrett M. Davis, " In the 
Footsteps of Boone." John H. Bacon, born in 
Maine, now a resident of Kentucky, wrote 
" The Pursuit of Phyllis." Nancy Huston 
Banks has written one good novel, " Oldfield." 
Eleanor T. Kinkead's " The Invisible Bond," a 
novel of present-day Kentucky life, was a good 
seller last summer. Mrs. H. D. Pittman told 
the love-story of a Harvard man, and pre- 
served some splendid traditions in " The Belle 
of the Blue Grass Country." 

A Methodist clergyman, George V. Morris, 
has two successful novels to his credit : " A 
Man for a' That," a religious story of college 
life, and " Polly," a novel of ideals. Dr. Mor- 
ris bids fair to become " the Kentucky Kings- 
ley." Hallie Erminie Rives won an audience 
with " Hearts Courageous," and " The Cast- 
away," based on Lord Byron's life. In " Tales 
from Dickens " Miss Rives, who recently mar- 
ried in Japan and is now Mrs. Post Wheeler, 



One Word More 181 

has done for Dickens what Lamb did for 
Shakespeare. Two Kentucky women who have 
made good in Washington journalism and have 
written one book each are Estelle H. Manning, 
" Hafiz/' and Daisy Fitzhugh Ayres, " The 
Conquest." 

Two " old-timers '' in the world of fiction 
who are still in the land of the living are Mary 
J. Holmes, a daughter of Massachusetts, but 
who was living in Kentucky when she wrote 
" Tempest and Sunshine," " Lena Rivers," 
etc.; and Sallie R. Ford, whose "Grace Tru- 
man " w^as a great family favorite a quarter 
of a century ago. Joseph A. Altsheler has 
made a fictional tour of American history, 
writing " Guthrie of the Times," " The Candi- 
date," and nine other novels. A celebrated 
chemist who has snatched time enough from 
his scientific duties to write " Stringtown on 
the Pike," "Warwick of the Knobs," and 
" Redhead," is John Uri Lloyd. Born in New 
Orleans, Abby Meguire Rosch became a resi- 
dent of this State at an early age. Besides 
many magazine articles, she has had " Some 
Successful Marriages." Some clever dialect 
stories were told by James T. Ellis in " Sprigs 
o' Mint." Prof. R. H. Wilson ("Richard 
Fisguill ") produced a Kentucky extravaganza 
in " The Venus of Cadiz." A young woman 
who has written much magazine stuff will 



182 Kentuckians in History and Literature 

have out her first book this coming winter — 
Miss Venita Seibert, " The Gossamer Thread." 
The most prolific Kentucky novelist of the 
year 1906 was Roe R. Hobbs. Mr. Hobbs pub- 
lished three books : " Zaos," " Gates of Flame,'' 
and '' The Court of Pilate." Two Kentucky 
novels that have sold as companions, although 
published by different firms, are " The Lady 
of the Decoration," by Mrs. Frances Caldwell 
Macauley ( " Frances Little " ) , and " Aunt 
Jane of Kentucky," by Mrs. Lida Calvert 
Obenchain ("Eliza Calvert Hall"). Both 
books rank with the " six best sellers." Wil- 
liam E. Barton, J. M. Clay, Frances A. Harris, 
Agnes L. Hill, Mary Leonard, A. C. Minogue, 
George Rathborne, K. S. McKinney ("Katy- 
did "), who has recently turned novelist, writ- 
ing " The Silent Witness " ; Langdon Smith 
and H. M. Wharton are all living Kentucky 
novelists who have w^ritten successful works of 
fiction. 

The old division of poetry will be followed 
in discussing the Kentucky poets of the pres- 
ent generation. The lyric poets will be first 
considered. After Cawein, Robert Burns Wil- 
son finds his place. Mr. Wilson was born in 
Pennsylvania, October 30, 1850. He was edu- 
cated at home and in Virginia, moving to the 
latter State when twenty-two years of age. 
Soon afterward he removed to Frankfort, Ken- 



One Word More 183 

tucky, in which town his best literary and ar- 
tistic work was done. He has published two 
volumes of poems, " Life and Love/' " Shad- 
ows of the Trees," and a novel, " Until the 
Daybreak." Mr. Wilson is now living in New 
York, and is giving practically all his time to 
painting. " The Shrine of Love and Other 
Poems " marked Lucien V. Rule as a poet of 
ability. The title poem is in eight parts, and 
it takes up the major portion of the book. The 
remaining poems are lyrics of love and free- 
dom. Mr. Rule's latest work, entitled " When 
John Bull Comes A-Courtin'," is a collection 
of political and social satires. 

The last leaf on the old Prentice poetical 
tree is Mrs. John J. Piatt, now living in Ohio.^ 
A poem already referred to in this book, " A 
Word with a Skylark," is, to me, her best poem. 
Wm. H. Brashear, Alice Brotherton, Laura 
G. Collins, George W. Doneghy, John A. 
Joyce, William W. Harney, Morrison Heady, 
E. B. Finck, Will J. Lampton, R. M. Lucky, 
and Mrs. Lillian R. Messenger, whose new 
book, " The Heroine of the Hudson," contains 
a spirited tribute to Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, are 
all well-known figures in contemporary Amer- 
ican poetry. Charles Hanson Towne, asso- 
ciate editor of The Smart Set^ is a native Ken- 
tuckian who has written excellent vers de 
societe. 



184 Kentuckians in History amd Literature 

Kentucky lias three poets who have at- 
tempted the epic. In the " Song of Lancas- 
ter/' written in the Hiawathan metre, Mrs. E. 
D. Potts elicited praise from the author of the 
American Indian epic. William L. Visscher, 
besides being the author of several w^orks of 
fiction and many lyrics, wrote " Chicago : An 
Epic." It is a metrical history of the Windy 
City and contains many fine lines. Another 
Kentuckian who has made a place for himself 
in the life of Alabama is Warfield Creath 
Richardson. " Caspar," a metrical romance, 
was followed by Mr. Richardson's epic, " The 
Fall of the Alamo." 

Only one successful stage drama has been 
written by a son of Kentucky; the others are 
only closet-dramas. Charles Turner Dazey, 
born in another State but educated at a Ken- 
tucky college, wrote " In Old Kentucky," which 
has held the stage for fifteen years. Mr. Dazey 
is also the author of several other stage 
dramas. A prominent Presbyterian minister, 
Peyton Harrison Hoge, author of " Moses D. 
Hoge," a biography of his distinguished uncle, 
has written a biblical drama, " The Divine 
Tragedy." John W. Keller's " Tangled Lives," 
Edwin D. Schoonmaker's " The Saxons," an 
attack on Christianity, Cale Young Rice's 
poetic dramas, " David," " Charles di Tocca," 
" Yolanda," and " A Night in Avignon," are 



One Word More 185 

intended for the study and not for the 
stage. 

In historical literature several Kentuekians 
have done painstaking, thoughtful work. Pres- 
ident Ethelbert D. Warfield's historical study 
of " The Kentucky Kesolutions/' and his 
'' Life of Joseph C. Breckinridge, Jr.,'' are 
beyond any adverse criticism. " At the Even- 
ing Hour " reveals the spiritual side of the 
author. 

Bishop John L. Spalding, with a life of 
Martin J. Spalding, an ode to Kentucky, and 
several volumes of deeply religious poetry, has 
made a place for himself in American letters. 
Margaret V. Smith has written " The Gov- 
ernors of Virginia " and " Virginia, 1492- 
1892." "Morgan's Cavalry," by Gen. Basil 
W. Duke, published over a quarter of a cen- 
tury ago, was issued last year bearing the 
Neale Publishing Company's imprint. The 
same firm brought out " Confederate Opera- 
tions in Canada and New York," the work of 
a former Kentucky Secretary of State, John 
W. Headley. A volume containing excellent 
sketches of public men of the last two decades 
was O. O. Stealey's " Twenty Years in the 
Press Gallery." Joseph M. Rogers's " True 
Henry Clay "was a fair estimate of the states- 
man. William E. Connelly has written biog- 
raphies of John Brown, James H. Lane, and 



186 Kentuckians m History cmd Literature 

Senator John J. Ingalls. George M. Cniik- 
shank wrote the story of the governors and 
supreme court justices of Alabama. Miss 
Emily V. Mason is the author of the first life 
of Lee, and also the compiler of " Southern 
Poems of the War." Louise Manly's " South- 
ern Writers " is the standard anthology of 
Southern authors. Gross Alexander, Henry 
E. Dosker, L. P. Little, J. L. Stickney, W. J. 
Hendrick, and Lydia A. Ward have written 
adequate biographies of their subjects. Good 
school histories have been prepared by E. S. 
Kinkead, Emma Connelly, and Caroline V. 
Chenoweth. The " History of Higher Educa- 
tion in Kentucky " was written by Alvin 
Fayette Lewis, President of Waynesburg Col- 
lege, Pennsylvania. 

Probably the most important Kentucky au- 
tobiography issued in recent years was that 
of Dr. S, D. Gross, edited by his sons, one of 
whom was born in this State. Dr. Gross was 
a Kentuckian by adoption. He was a member 
of the faculty of the Louisville Medical Col- 
lege for sixteen years. Dr. Gross wrote the 
authoritative life of Dr. Ephraim McDowell, 
in which he established McDowell's claim as 
being the Father of Ovariotomy. Mary An- 
derson, the celebrated actress, was reared in 
Louisville, and made her debut there. Some 



One Word More 187 

years ago she wrote " A Few Memories," a 
book of stage reminiscences. In literary criti- 
cism Kentucky has four well-equipped critics. 
Professor K. P. Halleck is the author of a text- 
book on English literature, and has also edited 
" The Last of the Mohicans.'' John G. Speed, 
editor of the " Life and Letters of John Keats," 
is a great-nephew of the poet, being the grand- 
son of Keats's brother George, who emigrated 
to America and lived for many years in Ken- 
tucky. George Keats died at Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, in 1842. Two newspaper critics of abil- 
ity are Evelyn Snead Barnett, Mrs. Waltz's 
successor as literary editor of the Courier- 
Journal, and Montgomery Phister, dramatic 
critic of the Commercial Tribune. A political 
essayist, whose characterizations of public men 
have gained him a world-wide fame, is a Ken- 
tuckian, Eugene Newman, " Savoyard." Orig- 
inally published in newspapers, " Savoyard's 
Essays " have been recently collected and is- 
sued in book form. 

In present-day scholarship William B. 
Smith of Tulane, Crawford H. Toy of Har- 
vard, Noah K. Davis of the University of Vir- 
ginia, K. W. Deering of Western Keserve, and 
M. M. Dawson, a translator of Norwegian, are 
prominent names. 

Kentucky can claim one of the two or three 



188 Kentuckians in History cmd Literature 

persons in America who are investigating the 
science known as anthropo-geography. Ellen 
C. Semple, born in Louisville, educated at Vas- 
sar and the University of Leipzig, is the woman 
who has given to the world the results of her 
researches in this science in a book entitled 
" American History and Its Geographic Con- 
ditions." This work deals with history philo- 
sophically. 

Genuine humor mixed with a kindly, world- 
wise philosophy, is best represented by George 
Horace Lorimer, editor-in-chief of the Satur- 
day Evening Post. Mr. Lorimer was born in 
Kentucky, the son of a distinguished Baptist 
clergyman, and was educated at Colby and 
Yale. " Letters from a Self-Made Merchant 
to His Son " and " Old Gorgon Graham " were 
appreciated over all the English-reading 
world. 

At the present time five historical works, 
dealing with Kentuckians and Kentucky, are 
in preparation. Henry Watterson is laboring 
on his long-delayed life of Lincoln; Thomas 
H. Clay was preparing an account of his 
illustrious grandfather for the American 
Crisis Biographies, when he died in the 
midst of his labors, leaving them to be 
finished by another hand; Charles Fennell is 
engaged on the life, writings, and speeches of 
Thomas F. Marshall ; and Prof. Robert M. Mc- 



One Word More 189 

Elroy, of Princeton, author of " The Mexican 
War," is compiling a history of his native 
State, Kentucky. 

One may readily see that the accusation 
made by a prominent man, " Kentucky is pro- 
ducing nothing but light literature," is wholly 
unfounded. The truth is, Kentuckians are 
yearly enriching American history by their 
contributions to it. 



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